October 14, 2016

Yesterday Ashtyn spent much of the day sleeping. It wasn't until after 3 pm that she woke up for the day. She had chest pain because her lower lungs were slightly collapsing from being in bed for a straight 16+ hours. After walking in the halls with her brothers and some friends, she felt good to socialize with visitors the rest of the night. We know there will be times of fear and devastation. Peace and calm. Crying and sorrow. And fun and laughter. Yesterday she felt all of it. She wants to be home. She does not want to do this again. At the same time, she feels peace and loved. Before she went to bed her Uncle Jared texted "Is there anything that will help take your mind away from the hospital room? Movies? Music? Video games? Sitting in the sun? Let's think of something." Ashtyn texted back, "Something tells me that pretty soon I won't be in the mood for any of that." She was right. Today she doesn't feel up to doing anything. She is officially feeling the effects of cancer and chemo. Another very important lab value we look at is the "Absolute neutrophil count" or ANC. Neutrophils are a type of WBC that fights against infection. A normal number is 1,500 to 8,000. Even though her overall WBC count was way high when she came to the hospital, her ANC was only 1,000 because cancer had made the rest of her WBC immature. Today her labs showed an ANC of zero. That's what chemo does. She now has no ability to fight infections so is required to stay in her room with only healthy visitors. Chemo has also knocked out her platelets and RBC's so she gets transfusions daily. She is sick and hasn't got it in her to do anything but sleep. Prayer for the day: Please pray that her body will not instantly destroy the platelets that she is given. We want the new platelets to circulate in her blood stream for as long as possible before dropping again. Also, please pray that she will remain infection and illness free. She so easy can get sick and I want her to fight cancer without having to fight anything else.