I just wanted to let you all know that since I am going home tomorrow(YAY!), I will be shutting down my computer. It will probably take me awhile to set it up at home because I will probably be pretty worn out for a few days. My plan is to try to continue to update about once a week or so for the next few months. I hope to see you all in the near future and I am just so excited to be able to finally come home! I love and miss you all!
Ashley

Hello. I am going to make this short. I GET TO FINALLY COME HOME FOR GOOD FRIDAY!!! So, I am sure you can tell I am a little excited. That was my good news for the day. Aunt Bonnie and Kris came up for dinner. Kris got to see the apt. before I leave. It was a nice visit. Now I am really tired, so I'll talk to you all later. Love and miss you all!
Ashley

For those of you who don't know..I have this crazy friend named Andraya who likes to pretend she's someone else. Yeah for those who read that comment about a guy named Benji...that was Andraya. She was just joking around to make me laugh (which she did), but some people took it seriously. I do not personally know Benji nor did he say any of those things about me. It's just kind of a joke we have. Sorry for the misunderstanding! Anyway, EARLY this morning I got some blood. Everything went well. The rest of the day I just kind of veged out. Tomorrow is my big day. I should find out when I go home and when I do, I will let you all know! I love and miss all of you and can't wait 'till I come home!
Ashley
PS. Sorry Uncle Ron if the comment caused you any lack of sleep or a heart attack...I assure you it's all fake!

I want to apologize to everyone for not writing in my journal in a while. The first couple of nights I was too tired and then the internet here shut down so I havent been able to get on. Anyway, a lot has gone on since I have last written. Last Wednesday (Maybe it was Tuesday) Janelle and I went to the Cheesecake Factory since she has never been there and really wanted to go. We were surprised by a visit from Aunt Balinda and Uncle Beryl and my mom. It was a nice visit and Janelle really enjoyed their company. On Thursday, I had another nice visit from Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Ron. We went to Red Robin for dinner and they got to meet Janelle. I also recieved some really thoughtful and nice gifts from Karen (a lady from church) and her Relay for Life team, Jenny's Joggers and Tom's Trotters. Then on Saturday I got to spend the night at home! Finally! I had a really good time. We opened Christmas presents. I got a new bed, sheets and comforter, messenger bag for school, and 5 Adam Sandler DVDs. My room looks so awesome too! My dad and Aunt Balinda painted it yellow. It looks so good! Tommy, Krista, Jonathan, and Adrian stopped by too. It was really nice to see all of them. This morning I got to go to church. I think I surprised a lot of people. It was great to see everyone and to get some "normalcy" back into my life. Also, my platelets are going back up, my liver is doing o.k., so hopefully by next weekend I'll be able to go home for good! This week is gonna be a long one. Janelle went home early Saturday morning. I'm really gonna miss her! I'm glad we became friends, it made this process so much easier! Anyway, I will talk to you all later. Love and miss you!
Ashley

Hello everyone! Today has been yet another eventful day. I thought I only had a blood draw this morning, but I ended up getting platelets too. They have some matched platelets that are about to expire, so they wanted to use them. So, my platelets went from 23,000 to 64,000! I get some more tomorrow too, so hopefully they will stay up there. The not so good news to all of this is I found out that my liver functions aren't doing well. They don't know what is causing this, so my team is going to be talking the next few days and hopefully they will come up w/a plan. Also, my white blood counts and neutrophils dropped dramatically since yesterday, so they are trying to figure out why that is happening. The good news is my PET scan came out clear, so I am cancer free! Well, that's all the news I know. I will talk to you all later. I love and miss you!
Ashley

First off I want to say I am so sorry I haven't written in a few days! I know when I do that people get worried, but the thing is I've been really busy and just too tired. The last two days I got the immunoglobulin infusion. Instead of it being 2 hrs. like I was told..it was 6 1/2! Yeah, I wasn't too excited about that, but what can you do right? I'm done w/that now and I am giving myself the IL-11 shots. My platelets are slowly going up! They are at 17,000 now! The only thing is my hematocrit levels (deals w/red blood cells) went down, so tomorrow I have to go get blood. If it's not one thing... I had a PET scan on Friday..I should find out the results soon. Janelle got her results back and she is officially cancer free!!! I am so excited for her! We've spent all day together and she's spending the night. Finally a day where we both feel good at the same time! My dad took us to the store and he made an awesome dinner. He's even put up w/our girly t.v. shows! On Thursday night Andraya, Aunt Bonnie, Aunt Bonita, and Kelli came over. I had a really nice visit w/all of them. It was a surprise for me that Aunt Bea and Kelli came. I was totally unaware of it. Well, I will talk to you all later. I love and miss you all!
Ashley

Hey all! Today has been an eventful day. I found out why my platelets aren't bumping up. Turns out I have ITP which means that I have built up antibodies against platelets, so basically I am chewing them up faster than I'm getting them. Of course this is something rare and knowing me I always go for the rare things! So, for the next two days I am getting an infusion called immunoglobin. This is supposed to help fight those antibodies so that my platelets can start growing. I am also taking a shot for the next two weeks called IL-11. This is just a platelet booster. So, naturally I don't know when I am going home. Maybe sometime next week? I am pretty much getting used to the fact that I'm gonna be here forever. I'm just focusing on taking it one day at a time. Well, that's the big news for now. I will talk to you all later. Love and miss you all!
Ashley

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I didn't have the best of weekends, but it wasn't bad. I didn't get to go home like I had planned. I got my hopes up and so when things didn't work out I was pretty upset, but I got over it. My platelets are still being stubborn, so they didn't want to risk me going home and possibly getting into a car accident or something. Totally understandable, but disappointing nonetheless. I didn't really do too much this weekend just was being kinda lazy. Tomorrow the doctors will find out the results of my bone marrow biopsy and aspiration. I see the team on Wednesday, so that's probably when I'll find out the information. They are pretty stumped on why my platelets aren't producing, so hopefully they'll find something out. Tomorrow I just have a blood draw, so I'll get more info. on Wednesday when I meet with the team. I'm guessing I'll be here a little longer than Friday, but we'll see. Well, that's all I know for now. I'll talk to you all later. Love and miss you!
Ashley

Hello all! Today, like most days, I recieved some platelets. They started at 7,000 and after dropped to 6,000. Yeah, go figure! So, I get to have more platelets tomorrow! Janelle and her mom call me the Platelet Queen. I'm beginning to think they are right. Tomorrow will be from a matched donor, which is a donor who matches my platelets. I usually get a really good bump from matched donors, but it only lasts a day or two. So, hopefully I'll be able to go home for the day tomorrow or Monday. We'll see. Guess what else I did today. If you guessed going to the Cheesecake Factory then you are right! My dad hasn't gone yet, so we decided to have dinner and dessert. Like every other time, they didn't disappoint me...or my dad. The food was excellent and the dessert was even better! Now I'm completely full! Well, that's all the news I have for today. Hopefully I'll get platelets early enough so I can still make it home to celebrate Christmas! If I don't write tomorrow..I made it home! I'll talk to you all soon. Love and miss you all.
Ashley

Hey everyone! Well today wasn't the funnest of days. I had a bone marrow aspiration and a biopsy, so I'm a little sore, but not too bad. I also had to get platelets again today. They didn't even bump up any, so they are still at 7,000. Now I have to get platelets on Sunday. They haven't called me with a time yet, but I'm hoping it's in the morning so I can still go home. If not I'll have to figure out plan B. Well, that's all the news for today. I'm pretty worn out, so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Love and miss you!
Ashley

Hey all!! Sorry I haven't been keeping up on my journal entries. The internet here didn't work last night, but it's up and running again! Today has been a LONG day! I'm doing all of my exit exams and whatnots. I saw the dentist today. She said everything is looking very well. The nutritionist said by me drinking green tea (which I do a lot of) is actually helping my liver functions. I also talked to the doctors today. They are still shooting for next week..most likely Friday! I also get to come home for the day on Sunday to finally celebrate Christmas!!! I had a chest CT and since my platelets dropped to 6,000 I had to get some of those too. But now they are 35,000! I have to get a bone marrow biopsy tomorrow morning to check and see why my platelets aren't producing. Well, I'm gonna eat some yummy spaghetti, so I'll talk to you all later. Love and miss you!
Ashley

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Well, today was a busy day. My platelets dropped again, so now they're at 14,000. I just have to be stubborn! I lost another 10lbs. since Thursday and they took me off a pill, so that's one less pill to take! I may only have about 3 more days of IV hydration and then I'll be done with that, hopefully. If that's the case, then I'll probably get to go home early next week instead of the end! They got my hopes up for a minute and said maybe this Friday, but then realized early next week is better. I can't wait! Well, tomorrow I have an X-ray and I see my surgeon about my arm. That's about it. I love and miss you all!
Ashley

Hi everyone! Today and yesterday have been great days for me so far. Yesterday I had to get platelets again. My numbers dropped to 4,000 which is extremely low and then only bumped up to 8,000. I even had a matched donor and all. My friend, Andraya, came up and visited. We went to the Cheesecake Factory..big surprise! I had a really good hamburger and of course some cheesecake. Then she came back to the apt. and we watched Napoleon Dynamite and Anchorman, both great movies. Thanks again Andraya, I had an awesome time! My dad also got the chance to go home for the day and spend time w/my mom. Lets see..as for today, it's been a good one. I had to go in for more platelets. This time they bumped from 8,000 to 48,000!! I am so excited. Hopefully they will keep growing! Now, I'm just kinda hanging out for the day. It's actually a really nice day in Seattle. The sun is partly out and it's not too cold. Well, I have clinic tomorrow, so I'll update you again then. I love and miss you all!
Ashley

Hey all! Today was another great day for me. They just keep getting better and better! I only had a blood draw today, so I got out of the apt. for a few hours with my dad. We did a little shopping and then drove around Queen Anne and Magnolia. Man! Magnolia has nice houses! I did find out that I have to go in tomorrow for more platelets. Evidently, mine are dropping below 10,000 and they want them at least 50,000. A normal person has about 150,000 platelets, so you can see where I'm at. So, pray that I get a big "bump" in platelets. It will definatley help me heal faster! Well, that's about all I know for now. I will see you all soon! Love and miss you!
Ashley

Hey all.. sorry I haven't written in a little while. I had a reaction to a shot they gave me and it sent me back to the hospital for a night. However, I am good to go now. Yesterday Aunt Bonnie visited so my mom could go home and spend some time w/my dad. We had a good time. I'm still hoping to go home in 2 weeks. It's really exciting to have a goal date finally. Just to let you know that I am raising money for Relay for Life, so if you want to pledge just let me know. I'm really excited about it this year. I've met so many fighters and I think this is just a wonderful cause. Well, I don't know much now. If I find out anything at my clinic visits today I'll write again later tonight. Until then...I love and miss you all.
Ashley