Ashley's Journey

The last 3 days have been pretty good for Ashley...She continues to get stronger and actually sat up on the side of the bed, with her back brace, for 15 minutes..it was so good to see her sitting up with her feet touching the floor..She still has alot of dizziness from lying in bed for the past 10 days, but the dizziness and feeling of being nausious are subsiding a little..We, along with the physical therapist were in front and back of her, just in case. But, she balanced herself, holding onto the bedrail with her left hand, all by herself..When we tried to help her, she said that she wanted to do it herself..that's my girl..independent as all get out..always has been and I'm growing to love that about her..she's a fighter..

Our goal is to get her to a fantastic rehab, closer to home, that specializes in spinal cord injuries..which, she is suppose to leave today, if the doctors can get her off of a strong narcotic pain killer, because the rehab will not be able to give it to her..They took her off of it yesterday afternoon and put her on ibuprophen...that was a large jump, but she took on the challenge and seems to be okay this morning..so we'll see..

I treated her to a spa day yesterday, washing her hair with real shampoo, not the 'no rinse', and my wonderful leave in conditioner, gave her a facial with my Neutrogena Microabrasion system, and she applied her own make up..She looked wonderful and felt more 'human'...Our daughter, Jess and her husband, a friend from work and her boyfriend were all up to see her and there was alot of laugher..it was a good day..

I have to add..she has such a loving, caring, and concerned boyfriend and we are blessed to have him in our family..He went to the store yesterday to get her new clothes and all her personables that she will need at rehab..He got everything on the list and the clothes he picked out were 'exactly' what she sent him for, even the sports bras and panties..he even knew her sizes..amazing..My husband just said, 'He's making me look bad'..lol..I also have to add that Ashley's boyfriends mother is a true treasure..I worked with her years ago at a nursing home and she is such a good person..she, too, has not left Ashley's side in the last 10 days, traveling well over 60 miles a day, one way, to be with Ashley..She has 2 sets of parents on that side that love her and have accepted her into the family with open arms..She is truly blessed..

So, now we wait and see how her pain managment goes today and wait on the go ahead for rehab..We have heard nothing but great things about this facility and staff and are anxious for the next step in her very long journey to recovery..She continues to have tingling from her upper thighs down to her toes, in both legs..2 nites ago she asked her boyfriend if her feet were covered and he said partially, 'why?' and she said because she thought she felt a cool breeze on her left foot..yesterday she got a wierd look on her face and kept looking at her right foot and said that it felt like something 'scraped against it, or 'thumped' her toe..all signs that 'may mean something' or 'may mean nothing', as the neuro surgeons put it..but we remain to be hopeful that they do indeed 'mean something'...we'll just have to wait and see..