Here is the latest e-mail update that I have received from Mrs. Porter. Thank goodness Ashley has recovered enough to be able to come home! Keep praying for her though, as she is still far from being completely at of the woods.
On a different note, to those of you who are planning on visiting Legacy for the first week tomorrow, I'm looking forward to seeing you all there.
To Ashley's friends and prayer warriors,
First let me begin by thanking all of you who have taken the time to pray for Ashley and our family. There is no question that your prayers have helped us tremendously in the last few days.
I wanted to give all of you an update and to fill you in with what happened as I know that it always clarify your questions. But before I do that let me reassure you that Ashley is doing much better in regards to the possible life threatening symptoms that the doctors were most concerned about. She still has several problems that are being watched carefully and will hopefully resolve quickly. She has extensive joint pain/swelling, muscle pain, severe headache, back pain (probably from the 2 spinal taps she had done) and weakness that prevents her from standing for more than 5 minutes without passing out. In general she feels crummy!! At this point the doctors feel she is not completely out of the woods in terms of a relapse neurologically which would cause the paralysis to come back but we are hopeful that she will be fine in regards to this. They are also preparing her for the "reality" that because she was hit so hard by what at this point is a mysterious disease (see below) it may take her a very long time to regain her strength and that the joint problem may become a somewhat chronic problem-again we pray that she has a COMPLETE and total recovery and that this occurs QUICKLY.
So for those who are interested here is a summary of what happened:
3 weeks ago Ashley woke up with a small bump below her knee which was very itchy. By afternoon it was very red and swollen, about the size of a 1/2 dollar. Over the next day swelling developed in her knee and calf of that same leg. We went to the doctor who diagnosed Staph cellulitis. This seemed reasonable as she had also started developing small pimple type lesions on the same leg. An antibiotic was prescribed and we figured that was the end of that. NO SUCH LUCK! The next day she had more pain in the joints of that leg with numbness in her foot and more pustules on her leg. Off to Evergreen's emergency room we went. They felt we had not given the antibiotic enough time and since she didn't have a fever they were not concerned. Again, it seemed fairly reasonable to just wait. Over the next few days the pustules healed with occasional appearance of new ones but not that bad. The biggest problem was worsening joint pain but still no fever. Then last Wednesday morning Ashley woke up with the right side of her face paralyzed. As I am sure you can imagine that is when things really got exciting. After a very quick stop at the doctor's office they sent her to Children's Hospital in Seattle. After extensive testing in the emergency room to make sure she was stable enough she was admitted to the hospital. She had lots of blood work, a CT scan, MRI, 2 spinal taps (she was not allowed to have sedation or pain relief for this because they were concerned it would further compromise her respiratory status-NO FUN!!) etc. done to help try to figure out what was going on. Most concerning was the paralysis which was spreading into her throat; making it difficult to swallow and especially the involvement of the nerve to her diaphragm, making it more difficult to breath. It was this traveling paralysis that necessitated to a visit from the ICU doctor to visit with Ashley, David and myself to prepare us for the possible need to put her on a respirator that night if things didn't stabilize. PRAISE God that medical intervention was never necessary. I can tell you that that was not a fun conversation but amazingly we all remained calm-something I can only attribute to God's presence and the peace he gave all of us.
22 doctors a day visited Ashley trying to analyze her symptoms and make sense of it all, especially since every stat tested ordered came back negative or normal. Although that was good it didn't help with figuring out what was going on. Many lab tests were ordered and sent to labs across the country. Most of these results have not come in but will hopefully be back by next week. In the meantime they decided that although not classic for Lyme Disease, many of her symptoms matched most closely with this disease, in its most serious form. Because this test was sent to the Mayo Clinic (the best lab in the country for detection of this bacteria) they began the antibiotic treatment protocol for Lyme rather than wait for the result.
After much prayer Ashley began to turn around Saturday morning with the regained movement in her face and throat and most importantly, improved breathing . She did develop a very painful, itchy rash over most of her joints and the muscles which were most effected (which they believe may be from the toxins the bacteria of Lyme disease can release when they start dying-creepy!). This added to some of her misery but was a good sign in some ways. By Sunday afternoon the doctors decided that since I am a nurse and felt comfortable with how to evaluate her for worsening symptoms, that she could go home. It was a very miserable ride for her because of her pain, headache and nausea but it was nice for her to get home and into her own bed!
At this point she will continue to be followed closely by her regular doctor and the infectious team at Children's. Today we have an appointment so I can give any updates if it seems relevant. We are hopeful that the Lyme result will be available today as it still seems like a diagnosis that is a little far fetched. Lyme is spread through a tick bite, which she never saw a tick on her. Lyme is not present in the Seattle area but has been reported in northern Idaho. Since we were at Lake Coeur d Alene twice this summer this peaked everyone's interest that this could be where she got bit. I guess it is possible but again we never have seen ticks at the place we stay and most of the activity is in the water, not the woods. I guess we will see.
For continued prayer: Please pray for the joint and muscle pain to resolve and that there would be no long term complications that would arise from this illness. Also pray for Ashley in regards to her feelings of sadness and frustration over feeling so crummy for the past 3 weeks with some things no better than they were 2 1/2 weeks ago. Pray for a definitive diagnosis to be made so that we can be reassured that the proper illness is being treated and to help with an accurate view on future medical issues that might come up.
You have our permission to pass along this email to any friends of Ashley's who you think would want to be kept in the "loop". Also, it would help if you share this email with your parents as well as I know many of these addresses are not the parents and us moms like to know what is going on.
Again thank you for your concern and your love and support of our family.
Carol Porter
I love our Suburu Legacy and its AWD. I've never encountered any snow or ice that's been able to stop that car. Even when all the other cars around me or my parents are slipping and sliding, that car has always been able to hold its footing.
After that, I spent most of my time just visiting with old friends while also having everyone sign a get well card for Ashley (which I later realized that I forgot to sign myself. lol. Rather ironic, isn't it? 
-- something that was sorely missed when I saw her in the hospital. 
Anyways, after a short visit, I got directions to her house and then left Legacy to go see her.
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