First I want to say that I have no words to express how thankful we are for the tremendous amount of support we are receiving from all of you. Next I want to say that my daughter is the luckiest young women in the world. One might find that to be an odd statement coming from me at a time like this, but it is true. She has all of you and the MOST AMAZING Medical Team she could have. Ashley has been a patient of Dr. Rubin/ Kelly and Dr. Frim here at U of C and Dr. Merchant;/Christy at St. Jude since she was 9 years old. And now they will be adding more doctors to her team at both Hospitals. Dr. Rubin is out of town at some convention so Kelly has taken charge in his absence and let me tell you, one would think Ashley was her own daughter. Kelly came into Ashleys room to give us the results with one of the Doctors on Dr. Rubins Team whose name has slipped my mind (but I really like her). The results are not what we hoped. Ashley has AML. We dont have all the answers yet because as I learned today from a friend, AML has different forms, so they need to determine which form of AML she has and should have answers tomorrow. As to whether or not this is a secondary cancer caused by past treatment or a new cancer, we will not know till next week. So this is what we know so far: Ashley will be in the hospital for about 4 weeks. She has to be here because her greatest risk is going to be infection because they way treatment works is that it completely wipes out her white blood cells (Infection fighters) which is what it needs to do. She will be getting transfusions to maintain her hemoglobin and Platelets at a certain level. The beginning treatment is the same for all forms was my understanding and is aggressive and will be hard on her. So that being said, we are still waiting for answers. She has to see her cardiologist tomorrow and will have an Echo as Ashley has already had heart issues and this treatment can affect the heart. So they have to watch her heart and her Kidneys as well. When they get the results tomorrow as to which form of AML she has, all of her doctors form here and St. Jude will collaborate to find the best possible treatment for Ashley. Kelly left and wasnt gone for more than a half hour when she called me. Kelly wanted to tell me she doesnt want Ash to have the nausea medicine until she sees the cardiologist because she knew she was forgetting something from Ashleys past and remembered about her QT Syndrome (heart issue) and said the nausea medicine can intensify that. She told me she was still here at the hospital because she cannot get Ashley off her mind. So she is going over all her records. Dr. Merchant also called. He said he just received the message from Dr. Rubin and told me that he is in complete shock and says he feels old right now because he has now seen it all. He is just in shock over this diagnosis. He said he will be talking to he doctors at St. Jude tomorrow to see what treatment they currently have at St. Jude for her cancer. He said to tell Ashley that he called and wanted her to know he is thinking about her and he will be working on things in Memphis and will be calling us tomorrow. I can tell you and Kelly, Dr. Rubin, Dr. Merchant and Christy will tell you something about Ashley-She is not typical, there is noting typical about her, so when you look at cancer and treatment and side effects and statistics when it comes to Ashley, you really cant look at those because there is nothing typical or statistical about her. She defies the odds. Kelly basically sat here I this room and said that. Our Ashley is the strongest, most determined. most positive individual I have ever met in my life. She without a doubt defines Super Hero. She is Ashley Strong and she will beat this!! Once they have the answers we can inform all of you when you can come donate and they encourage that as well as anyone willing to be tested to see if they are a bone marrow match to Ashley. Michael and Jake will both be tested but only have a 25% chance of being a match. I will post as soon as we hear anything new and when you can donate and or get tested. I will pretty much be living at the Hospital with Ashley and Mike will be going back and forth. I am still absorbing all this but I have no doubt that Ashley is in the best possible hands she can be in. They love her like their own. So Please keep praying as it is the most powerful part of Ashleys treatment.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 03:26:36 +0000