December 9th

What a couple of months Ashley has had.

Our last update was just prior to our Victory Junction Camp Weekend with the Transverse Myelitis Association. Our third trip; what a blessing. We caught up with several old friends and established many new ones that we will treasure.

Out on the dance floor with Crew Chief Vandy and Mom

Ashley is asking Crew Chief Bill if she can have the Taylor Swift pickup truck when Victory Junction isn't using it.

So are we close or what? (l-r) Jeff, Pauline, Mary, Dr. Sim, Ashley & Sandy

Pauline and Sandy's son Dave and his wife Kat volunteered and kept Ashley's smile bright.

What made this trip stand out was that it provided an opportunity for a historic gathering of people with ADEM. Below is a photo of 6 individuals with ADEM (not counting Betty Boop in the VJ theater). At no other time, or place, have there been as many gathered. It certainly puts into perspective how rare it is. With that said we are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated support group and collection of doctors, researchers, therapist and specialists that are dedicating themselves to healing demyelinating illnesses.

Nice October weather allowed Ashley to take a spin on her bike. Yes, bike. Ashley now has a 3-wheel bike. We have every expectation that come spring Ashley will be ready to do some real biking.

Ashley assumed the role of handing out candy on Halloween. She had a busy night. She donned her UVa Medical Center Neurosurgeon garb as a costume.

Ashley’s new netbook (gift from Midwest Orthodics) is getting a lot of use. We have loaded MicroSoft Office and will be installing speech therapy related tools. We have joined the legions of folks that are now Skyping on line (what a great way to communicate). Ashley is hoping for more eBooks for her Kindle for PC application (we can adjust the font size and Ashley can advance pages by touching the screen) and audio books that she can also play on the portable PC. We feel pretty confident that she is on Santa’s good list this year.

We had a download issue on the WNDU news story link that covered Ashley getting her PC. That has now been fixed and can be viewed from the link in the right column on the blog.

On November 2nd Ashley cast her first vote. As such if she wants to complain about anything political she has earned the right.

The crowning event in November is a significant milestone that Ashley reached. Just before Thanksgiving Ashley had her feeding tube removed! Since mid July Ashley has taken all her nutrition and hydration orally so she was given the green light to have it removed. It was an quick in-office procedure and it has healed up nicely.

December 2010 will be marked in the Ashley archives as a pivotal time in her speech recovery. The mechanics are coming together. Ashley is forming words and is making dramatic improvements in pushing air through her vocal cords to get recognizable sounds. While there is still a long way to go the progress in the last couple of weeks has been amazing.

Another area of major improvement is with Ashley’s right arm. This is not a photo-opp. Ashley is now able to hold the posts on the stationary bike with both arms and petal continuously. Note that she does not need an ace bandage on her right hand to keep it on the post.

We continue to be in awe as Ashley perseveres in her recovery. We receive words of encouragement everywhere we go and know that you are all continuing to pray for Ashley. We thank God for you all.

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a blessed New Year!