A Day in the Life of Ashlei

I went to Houston yesterday and took my daughter-in-law, Ashlei, to the doctor - at MD Anderson. This was our day:

We arrived at the MD just before noon for blood work. They took her pretty fast actually. She has a port in her upper left chest, so drawing blood is pretty quick - and no sticking her! Then, we had two and a half hours to waste.

So...we found a quiet place and Ashlei went to sleep. I told her to feel free to sleep - she couldn't keep her eyes open. I don't have to be entertained - I'm there for HER. She got a really good nap of which I'm so glad. While she slept I read and texted back and forth with Sarah.

We stirred around about two o'clock and went the the cafeteria to get something to eat - cheese fries! This whole two years Ashlei has been sick eating has never been a problem until the last few months. She is literally skin over bone, and she was tiny to begin with. She was hungry for the cheese fries, but only ate a couple of them.

Next, we went back up to the eighth floor to see her doctor. The appointment was for 2:30 and we only had to wait about forty-five minutes. That is amazing considering it's normal to wait two or three hours. Her doctor is Dr. Thomas. Dr. Thomas is one of the best at MD Anderson in Lymphoma and Leukemia. She is very anal - which is a good thing really! After one treatment the cancer is significantly reduced. Ashlei's labs were O.K. considering...her white count was 1.7 - the norm is 5 - 10 so her immune system is pretty compromised. Her platelets were 16 and the norm for that starts around 400, so we had to go downstairs for platelets.

They scheduled her platelets for four-thirty and we got started about six o'clock. Once they had them hanging it went pretty fast. You can actually run platelets in a short amount of time. We left the hospital about seven o'clock and got back to her place a little before eight. I got home a little after ten.

This is her life: appointments, tests, treatments, appointments, tests, treatments, etc. I cried half the way home. It breaks my heart that my sweet twenty-two year old dtr-in-law is going through this trial. It's so hard to see her so frail and weak, and generally - she just does not look good. It's hard to keep the faith, but I am determined to do that.

I'm thankful for my testimony of the atonement, and for my testimony that Heavenly Father has a plan, He is in control, and "All is well. All is well."