When we first got to Edmonton, the doctors told us that Ashley would need to be there for 10 days to 2 weeks to recover from her surgery. Well, after I spent most of Friday wrapping up the business of selling our home, I got a call from Tammy saying that the doctors were thinking of sending Ashley back to Calgary the next day, only 4 days after her surgery. A bed had become available at the Children's Hospital, and a transport team was scheduled to arrive in Edmonton with another patient from Calgary, so they decided that Ashley was stable enough for that same transport team to take her back with them. We were excited that our whole family would at least be in the same city again, but at the same time, we were a bit concerned that they were moving her along too quickly, and that she might not react well to the move. It turns out she didn't react well, and had a pretty traumatic 3 hour ambulance ride.
The ambulance didn't get in to Calgary until after 10pm, and I met up with Tammy and her Mom in Airdrie sometime after that, but we headed to the hospital right away, and stayed until the wee hours of the night. There wasn't room for us to stay the night in the ICU, but Ashley had stabilized again by Monday, and a private room had become available, so they moved her to Unit 2, and this new room came equipped with a bed and a private bathroom. Once she was there, Tammy set up camp and stayed there 24 hours a day until Ashley was discharged. Emma and I would make daily trips to go and visit, play in the awesome playroom they had down the hall, ride on the seesaw at the "strange park", and bring clean clothes and food for Tammy. It was such a nice set up that we even manged to have a family pizza night one time while we watched 101 Dalmatians. Ashley kept on doing better and better, relying less and less on medications, feeding normally again and gaining weight, so after about a week and half at the Children's Hospital, we were sent home.
The ambulance didn't get in to Calgary until after 10pm, and I met up with Tammy and her Mom in Airdrie sometime after that, but we headed to the hospital right away, and stayed until the wee hours of the night. There wasn't room for us to stay the night in the ICU, but Ashley had stabilized again by Monday, and a private room had become available, so they moved her to Unit 2, and this new room came equipped with a bed and a private bathroom. Once she was there, Tammy set up camp and stayed there 24 hours a day until Ashley was discharged. Emma and I would make daily trips to go and visit, play in the awesome playroom they had down the hall, ride on the seesaw at the "strange park", and bring clean clothes and food for Tammy. It was such a nice set up that we even manged to have a family pizza night one time while we watched 101 Dalmatians. Ashley kept on doing better and better, relying less and less on medications, feeding normally again and gaining weight, so after about a week and half at the Children's Hospital, we were sent home.
It was a scary feeling at first as we had become accustomed to having Ashley hooked up to monitors that told us exactly what her heart rate and oxygen levels were at all times. We were also going to miss having a nurse on hand whenever we had questions or concerns about anything and everything. We were back to relying on good judgment and parental instincts, and after what we had been through, that seemed scarier than it ever had before. When we told Dr. Harder (the cardiologist at the Children's Hospital who was looking after Ashley) our concerns, she arranged for another ultrasound to help put our minds at ease as to how Ashley's recovery was going. It was all good news when we went over the pictures with her, so after we met with some dietitians and the oxygen people, and dealt with a prescription fiasco that encompassed the rest of the evening, we were all back home living under the same roof again.
Ashley will be considered a cardiac patient for the rest of her life, even if she never has another heart issue as long as she lives. That means regular checkups and probably a bit of priority status in hospital waiting rooms, but it will probably also mean that we'll always wonder if every little sniffle she gets could be something more serious than what it actually is. She's on oxygen here at home, as well as some medication to help her get rid of fluids she built up during surgery and to help keep her blood pressure down, but that is all very temporary, and she should be running on her own steam soon enough.
Ashley will be considered a cardiac patient for the rest of her life, even if she never has another heart issue as long as she lives. That means regular checkups and probably a bit of priority status in hospital waiting rooms, but it will probably also mean that we'll always wonder if every little sniffle she gets could be something more serious than what it actually is. She's on oxygen here at home, as well as some medication to help her get rid of fluids she built up during surgery and to help keep her blood pressure down, but that is all very temporary, and she should be running on her own steam soon enough.
Our schedule is pretty full of doctors visits for the next while, but we're slowly getting back to a normal, sleepless, newborn baby lifestyle as the days go by. Ashley will have to have another surgery down the road, and the seriousness of that surgery will depend on how well her heart is able to strengthen itself over the next few months. We continue to pray for her, and hope that she will be able to live a life unencumbered by the tough start she has had. She's so young that she'll never remember any of the events that transpired over the past month, and thank goodness for that, but Tammy and I will never forget, and will never be able to thank the Lord, and everyone who had a hand in her recovery, enough for what they have done for us.
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