The Journey this far.....

We (Abby's family) first want to start off by thanking everyone for all of the prayers that are being said for Abby and our family. They are being answered and for that we feel very blessed. Abby is a very special girl with a special spirit and she has started this new journey. It has been a rough start, but she is strong and if anyone can get through it she can.

Abby started this particular Journey Saturday night at about 10:30 P.M. she got a phone call that she was next on the list to get a liver. Abby was unsure what to do, her new medicine has been working but it is a trial medication so for now it is free. But we didn't know what the future would bring and if the medication would be affordable. Abby prayed and fasted about her decision and she decided to go a head with it. She felt good about her decision and was ready to embrace this journey.

Sunday morning we all gathered in Abby's hospital room A beautiful blessing was given to Abby by her dad. The blessing mentioned a new journey starting for Abby and that many great things would come of it. She was taken to holding around 11:30 where they asked her questions and told her what to expect. They were very positive about the whole thing because Abby is young and healthy. They wheeled Abby away around 1:30 she shed a few tears but was calm and she even smiled and made jokes, which is so Abby. It was hard to see her go through those double doors but we had to have faith.

The first part of the day was uneventful even the last surgery report at 7:00 was good the nurse said all went well they should have her in SICU in 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Time went on and the next thing we heard was from her surgeon who came in a little after 9:00. He started by saying the liver looked good but Abby's heart stopped once during surgery but they got her stabilized. Then he went on to say she had a bad reaction to something and her lungs were filling with fluid and it isn't stopping. He tried to stay positive but he was sugar coating it. My parents quickly followed him down to SICU waiting area. The doctors and nurses in the Operating room were working as hard as they could to stop the fluid. She wasn't getting any better, they took her to the SICU.

At the SICU they had multiple doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists working on Abby. My parents wanted to see her, the nurse said "you would be watching her die." My parents couldn't take that as an answer and went in they weren't going to let her go or leave her side. Caleb and my dad gave her a blessing and we all felt a little better. But things were still looking grim her brain activity did not look good. She was no longer sedated but wasn't responding to pain and her pupils were fixed and dilated. We were not giving up we have seen miracles before in our family and we knew we could get another one. Abby did not look like Abby anymore it was very scary, and things were just not getting better. Her o2 saturation was way too low and they were struggling to get it up and her kidney was shutting down. We didn't know what to do we prayed even harder we started calling people to pray we couldn't loose our Abby. Then at about 4:00 A.M. our mom came in and said with a smile "she opened her eyes." Those were the best words we have heard in a long time. We all wanted to see this for ourselves. So they let us all into the SICU which was probably a sign that the medical team thought Abby wouldn't make it because they were breaking rules for us. So we all took turns saying her name and having her look at us. The feeling of that moment is hard to describe other than complete joy. For the next 3 hours that we were all there things were getting even better she was trying to focus her eyes and she was wiggling her toes. Even though we didn't get any sleep we were all smiles.

It was a rough night we had some break downs but if it wasn't for the love and support of our family members it would have been worse. We had 3 of our aunts there Julie Ann, Julie and Sherry and our cousins Stephanie and Kelly. They shared our sorrow and our Joys with us and comforted us when we needed. We also had our soon to be sister in law there for the ride as well and she was a great comfort and support, we feel blessed to have her in our lives. Caleb's friends also came they even went and bought bags of food for us. We didn't eat it until it was cold because until we got the good news we couldn't swallow but even the cold fries tasted good at that point. So thank you Brian and Madi.

So now the Journey brings us to Monday well from 7:00 A.M. and on. Abby had to have a chest tube put in to relieve some of the fluid and air that had collected in her chest cavity. But the fluid is pretty much gone. The swelling has gone down quite a bit. Her heart rate and blood pressure have been good. They were able to turn down the ventilator a bit too. They have Abby sedated and keeping her pain managed. They are still a little concerned about her Kidney output I just barely got word that they are going to put her on dialysis for now. Her kidney still could get better this will just help things along.

Abby is improving but now out of the woods yet so please keep the prayers coming and feel free to leave comments for Abby to read when she gets well.