We're Back!!

We are back from our trip to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. It was such a long, but worthwhile trip!!

Ashley is now on a daily enema program that is keeping her "artificially continent." We are also catherizing her, every four hours, to help with her bladder issues.

You can read all the details of our trip at www.caringbridge.org/visit/ashleylassen .

We are so appreciative of the prayers and support that many of you gave before the trip and while I was gone. The kids and hubby had no complaints!

I hope you have a wonderful 2009!

Lori

Keep Praying

Thanks to those of you that have been praying about our insurance denials for our upcoming trip to an out of state Children's Hospital.

The insurance company said we could see the Doctors, but no testing could be performed. The point of the trip is to undergo ten different tests that will help the Doctors accurately determine Ashley's limitations and capabilities.

Both of the Doctors are doing a peer to peer discussion with a Doctor from the insurance company. We are hoping to hear back by tomorrow if they will cover the tests.

I spoke to our liaison from the hospital and she told me if they won't cover the tests we could go ahead and have them done. The hospital will try once more with the insurance company and if they still deny it, then we can fill out financial forms and determine how much of a write- off we would be eligible for. After the write-off, we could set up a monthly payment plan to pay the remaining amount.

We really don't want to go in debt, so we are hopeful the insurance company approves it. If not, we will go ahead with the testing. The Lord has not opened all these doors for us to go half-way. He will have to work out the details.

Thanks for your prayers!!

Lori

Fire in The Hole

Sunday night was going along just as planned. We had arrived home from church, all the kids were ready for bed and two of them were already half asleep.

Ryan had asked if he could stay up for five minutes and play with Ashley. She was deep into a block building project that he wanted to be part of. I told him that I would set the timer on the microwave and when he heard it go off, it was time for bed.

I followed Scott into our bedroom and we started folding laundry. I heard a strange beep and even stopped for a minute to listen more closely. About 30 seconds after the "strange beep" Ryan comes running to the bedroom shouting, "fire, fire, fire."

Scott and I go running towards Ashley's bedroom in search of the "fire." About the time we rounded the corner in the kitchen, we noticed the glow of flames shooting out of the microwave.

Apparently, Ashley wanted to make sure Ryan followed the five minute rule, so she attempted to set the timer on the microwave for 5 minutes. Great idea, only instead of pressing "timer", she pressed "start" and proceeded to cook the bag of potato chips that we store in the microwave.

Being one that remains calm in an emergency (ha, ha), I lovingly beckon Kayla and Kyle from their beds (OK, I was yelling) and I gather my off-spring and head for the door. I then realize that I should call 9-1-1 in case Scott can't get the lovely flames to stop. I couldn't find a phone. I don't know about you , but I spend the better part of my day searching for my cell phone or the cordless phone.

As soon as Scott hears me lovingly instructing the children to find a phone so we can call for help, he chuckles (is this a time for laughter....I think not) and tells me to calm down. He was able to put the fire out with lots of water.

It took quite a while for the smoke to clear. It took even longer for the big kids to calm down enough to fall back asleep.

I'm telling you, we live an eventful life. Never a dull moment.

In case you are wondering, bar-b-que chips are flame resistant. Interesting........

Parenting Stories

I wanted to tell you about our exciting weekend. As you can imagine, with the size of the garage sale we were having, there was a lot of preparation to be done. I had my week scheduled down to the minute.

Ashley was scheduled for a test on Thursday at a Children's Hospital that was an hour away. We found out that she would need to return on Friday for a second part of the test. Not a problem. I was already scheduled to help with the Thanksgiving Feast at my son's school, but I could leave in time to make it to the hospital for the final part of the test.

My youngest son asked if he could leave school early and go with me to take Ashley to the hospital. Being the fun (AKA, crazy) mom that I am, I let him leave early and accompany us to the hospital.

A five minute test turned into three hours of waiting for the Radiologist to read the test and give us a CD to take on our trip up north. Everyone was getting tired and hungry. We finally get the all clear to leave and so we headed to the closest drive-thru.

We were getting on the highway at 5:30 PM on a Friday afternoon. I don't think we could have picked a worse time to drive home. I felt like I was ahead of the whining game, as two of my kids sat in the back of the van, happily munching on Happy Meals.

About 25 minutes into the stop and go traffic, my dear 8 year old, announces that he has a headache and doesn't feel well. Thinking this was one of those false alarms, I tell him that we should be in better traffic soon. Just in case, my co-pilot (my mom) passes back the bag that our food came in.

Just then, the unthinkable happens. You moms know the sound. The sound of a Thanksgiving Feast going the wrong direction. Thinking that we were covered with our bag idea, I continued to drive with one eye on the bumper-to-bumper traffic and one eye on my son, who is now an interesting shade of green.

It gets worse. Apparently, a paper bag made in some factory, by a company with the lowest bid, is not the best receptacle for an eight-year-olds Thanksgiving Feast. The bag broke!

Luckily, I was in the left lane, so I quickly navigated my way to the emergency lane. If ever a person qualified to use the emergency lane, I figured this was it.

I ordered my son out of the car and instructed him to strip his pants off and put on his pilgrim costume, which luckily was still in the car. He got shy, and couldn't imagine taking his clothes off with hundreds of cars crawling by us on both sides. This was no time for modesty!

I get him back in the van, half dressed like a pilgrim and hand him the only good container I have left for car sickness, a crock- pot. Look people, don't judge me. This situation called for desperate measures. I figured the crock- pot would be a bit more sturdy than the bag, should another emergency arise.

We continued the hour long drive home (with the windows down) and then the clean-up began.

Isn't this parenting thing fun???!!! I'm telling you it is just a laugh a minute. I don't remember being warned about any of this in our parenting classes.

If you are driving over the Thanksgiving holiday, be prepared.....pack a bucket.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Lori

P.S.-Don't get worried if I invite you over for dinner and it is served in the crock-pot. He felt much better once the traffic started moving and didn't need to use it.

We are so thankful

Last Saturday we had a HUGE garage sale. Many of our friends and family donated items for us to sell. We are using all of the proceeds to help with Ashley's medical expenses. At 6 AM on a cold Saturday morning (well, cold for Florida), my brother-in-law, two friends and three of my kids were covering our yard and driveway with all sorts of goodies.

We had 11 friends and family stop by during the day to help us with the selling and then the clean up. Our older daughter, found her niche. Sales. She wore an apron and followed people around, making deals. It was hysterical to see a nine-year-old love to be a part of a garage sale. We discovered that you either love to do yard sales or you hate it.

Another friend, showed up at 6:30 AM with hot chocolate and donuts. She set up an adorable table for our kids to sell the goodies. All day long, the kids took turns manning the concessions.

We had so much to be thankful for as the day progressed. We could have never set up or sold all that we did without all the help.

The best news is......we raised almost $1,200! Can you believe it? We sold two bigger priced items ($150 and $85) and other than those items, it was lots of smaller prices. God is so faithful!

We had so much left over that next weekend we are setting up again in another relatives yard to see if we can sell the rest. Pray that we have another Saturday of great weather.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope that you and your family enjoy of day of giving thanks to our Lord for all that He has done.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

With Thankful Hearts,

Scott & Lori

Advances in bladder surgery

This is an encouraging article about bladder augmentation surgery. We know that Ashley will have this surgery done sometime in the next few years. It is wonderful that advances continue to be done to make this surgery a bit easier.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/546659/?sc=dwhn

Almost There....

Phone calls, faxes, planning, canceling appointments, re-scheduling appointments, authorizations, referrals, begging insurance companies to be nice......this is what the last few weeks have looked like.

We are just a few weeks away from heading north. I honestly took a "medical break" over the last two weeks. I resigned that I would do no trip planning or worrying. A few days ago, I re-entered the world of out of state medical care and the calls have not stopped.

So far, the insurance company has approved our visits with all of the Specialists we need to see. These Doctors have reviewed Ashley's records and they want further testing done. While we are there, she needs to have ten tests done. One test is being done in Florida before we leave. Some are easy, like x-rays and some are nuclear tests that take half a day.

I am going to have to make sure I pack Ashley lot of goodies for that week. I'm sure she will be sick of seeing people in scrubs.

I had the chance to speak to a mom that has a four year old with very similar medical problems. She has also been to Cincinnati Children's Hospital, so she had a wealth of information to share with me.

It was informative, but at the same time, it reminded me that until now, we have not really had to deal with Ashley's disability. Once we start this process, her life will never be the same.

I know in my heart that in the long run, these procedures and appointments will eventually help her in her quality of life, but I hate to put her through this.

I found out from this other mom, that the daily bowel clean-out takes anywhere from one to two hours a day. We will have to figure out when to schedule this into our day and also figure out how to get a little antsy girl to cooperate.

I keep trying to tell Ashley a little about our trip. One day in the car, she saw an airplane and asked when Mommy and Ashley were going on the plane to Cincinnati. I was shocked at her question because I had not even spoken to her directly about the trip. She had just been listening to all the conversations that I was having.

She knows she is going to see a Doctor and she knows that after we go to Cincinnati she will be able to use the potty like a big girl. I figured I would wait until we actually get there so explain how her potty experience will be a little different.

The Lord continues to amaze us with his faithfulness. I was just telling my Pastor the other day that I can't wait until Ashley is old enough to grasp all the ways the Lord has had His hand on her life.

When I have more time, I'll share more about all the faithful things the Lord has done for us in the planning and execution of this journey.

Still Trusting in Him,

Lori