Movin' along...

Astra is finally moving forward with her recovery. For awhile it seemed like she was hitting one stumbling block after another. She was having anxiety attacks coupled with coughing attacks that would last hours at a time. But the last couple days have been her best yet!! My mom said she finally feels like Astra is back:)
Here are her latest happenings:

• While throwign up her feeding tube came out so they thought they would let her try eating real food before putting it back in.
• She lost 6 lbs during the six days when her feeding tube was out
• the feeding tube went back in on Monday and she has already gained a pound:)
• she is working on eating real food as well
• the feeding tube nutrients are making her bowels quite wacky
• to put it bluntly she is pooping non-stop so she is actually wearing diapers- Samantha got a real crack out of it and when Samantha was asking Astra if her diapers had princesses on them like her pull-ups Astra laughed for the 1st time- which caused her too much pain so we had to stop the joking. But it was good to hear her laugh again:)
• Samantha was also telling her that she is a big girl and does not wear diapers anymore... but why is Astra wearing diapers?!!
• On that same note- this week her boyfriend made her laugh and she peed her pants!:) (yes, I got permission to write all these fun toilet stories!)
• She is now sitting up on her own and even took about 50 steps last night. (while pushing the wheelchair for assistance.)
• her pain meds have been weaned down to every 4 hours instead of 3
• Today's chest x-rays show that her lungs are a little worse than when she 1st came in- she has pneumonia in her left lobe. But they kind of anticipated this would happen.
• Overall she has had her best two days yet- she even had her 1st visitors on Monday:)
  

This pic is from last week, when she was having problems with fevers.

Her cute friend, Somer who is another C.F. buddy, made this incredible painting for her. You are so sweet Somer!!! I sent her some cards the kids made for her. Samantha's has a pic of her in a princess dress and says, "From one princess to another... get better soon!" And Parker's is a pic of him flexing that says, " Live, Love, Breath... and be Strong!!!!"

We are so proud of all Astra's hard work and are excited to see her next week!!!! Love you sis!

The road to recovery...

Hey there! This is Sara, Astra's oldest sister. I thought I would give some updates as to how she is coming along on her road to recovery. To begin with, her surgery went really well. She went into surgery around noon and they were finished stitching her up by 5:30. By 7:00 pm we were all thrilled to find out that she was off the ventilator and in her new room in the ICU. By the next day she was already moved out of ICU and back to med surg- her home turf:) The doctors were very happy with how well she was doing. But despite her progress, she is in a lot of pain. They are doing their best to try and stay on top of the pain, but it is going to be a long road to recovery.

A few points:

• they pulled out her chest tube today, which was a good sign- but painful to remove


• they have started weaning her off the epidural


• she has been running fevers on and off but at the moment it has leveled off


• she still has the feeding tube in, and it will pry be there for awhile


• she sat up yesterday in a chair for the first time- baby steps, baby steps:)


• she walked with assistance yesterday for 1st time to get chest X-rays


• The catheter will come out tonight


• She will have a blood transfusion tonight: which have brought about many Twilight jokes


• * they washed her hair today and she is a whole new woman!


• she is still pretty out of it and sleeps the majority of the day

Astra has been a champ and has been progressing better than we could have expected. We are grateful for every milestone she passes and are so proud of her.

At this time Astra is not ready for visitors yet, we will keep you posted. Thanks for all your love and support:)

Ear Piercing :/

Well I got some hair brained idea that I wanted to get another piercing and I decided on the tragus. I've been through a lot of pain, so I thought I could handle this easy! Boy was I wrong... One of the most painful things I've ever done! I went into shock, literally. I had no idea what to expect but I definitely wasn't expecting that. I've had it for about three weeks now and it actually hasn't hurt me at all, and no infection so far. I must've gotten very lucky! I don't know if I'd do it again ha, but I'm very glad I did it!

Hello!

This is Erin, Astra's sister, and I am starting a blog for her (as requested by her, our sister Sara, and our mom). Hopefully she'll start posting right away and keep us all updated on her interesting and inspiring life! Maybe my mom and I will also do a few posts here and there to keep you all informed. Anyway, what better way to start her blog than to brag about her?!

Last week Astra received an amazing award during a school assembly. A lot of awards were given out, but she was the only student who received a standing ovation from the whole crowd. It was amazing. We all shed a few tears. The award Astra received was the 2008-2009 Most Inspirational Athlete. And I must say that it was well deserved! I can speak for many people when I say we are all so proud of her!