I will be praying too!

It's good she's relaxed going into it. Sending lots of good thoughts for all!

Thinking healing thoughts and may you all feel peace through it all.

So sad and scary that someone so young is dealing with this problem.

I know she had strong family support and I look forward to hear about a successful procedure. (((Cathy)))

Sending good thoughts, good thoughts, too.

seagrass

Prayers going up for Ashley and your whole family.

Oh my, how stressful for you and your family. I'll be thinking of all of you today...

Annie, you and Ashley will be in my thoughts tomorrow. Coming home the next day really is amazing. I'm sure she'll be glad to be home, though.

Extra good thoughts and energy to Ashley and calming strength to you.

Hang in there Mom, she is getting lots of prayers and good healing wishes, mine and Dads included. She is young, fairly healthy and has so much to get better for.....

If I can help in any way, just call me!

Hugs and kisses to all of you,

Peppi and the old man.

Thinking good thoughts for Ashley and all your family

My thoughts and prayers too.

I hope it all went well and that she's on the way to a speedy recovery.

Annie, you don't know me, but I read this forum a lot. I've picked up a lot of good information from you and others. I also want to chime in with my thoughts and prayers for your Ashley and family. It's good that she is relaxed. May everything go as planned.

Thanks....was scrolling...wonderign...glad it's over and well. I trust this was not a"crack the chest" procedure.....
Tough cookies...all fo you....prayers from Iowa!

Phew! Huge sigh of relief from over here. Ashley's appetite for some of the "less gourmet" cuisine makes me giggle. I can still visualize her eating Cream of Mushroom soup out of the can. Glad to hear that she's bouncing back with a good appetite and her genetic moxie! Hugs to you all!

Good news all around! At least she still has her food priorities straight! Good girl. Phew for you! What a relief! Hugs

Sounds like she's actually having fun with heart surgery. Great attitude to have. Love it. I'm glad she's doing well and will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

Sally

p.s. What a great friend to stay the night in the hospital with her!!!

I'm so glad to hear how well it went. Ashley is amazing, as always.

Great news! So happy for your family and for Ashley!

THANK YOU! For the Ashley update! So good to know all is going well. I really got a kick out of reading about her food requests. She has a wonderful attitude about it all. I hope you will get some rest now.

Rusty

So happy to hear the good news, what a great story :) At least Ashley has upgraded her favorite foods from mashed potatoes/sauerkraut/creamed corn combo to fried pickles LOL, yay Ashley!

Great news! Now moving on to another project...diet management and limited outdoor activities.

Thank you for letting us all know how things went. We're all a big family and worry about each other and our families. Let's hope Ashley has at least another 70 healthy years ahead of her.

So glad that all went well!

Yipee!!!!! coming through any surgical procedure and asking for food is always a good sign.

So very happy to hear it went fast and she is ok. Healthy foods can wait one day, that dinner was a celebration well earned.

Give her a hug from us please.

The power of the CF is still here.

Peppi

Happy to hear the good news, Annie! Can't believe her preferred bad-food choice was fried dill pickle slices, though.... I can think of much better bad foods. ;^)

Prays it will be.

I am glad to see everything went well.

Wow! With an appetite like that one is inclined to call her "healthy"! :D So glad it went well, and I hope the ECG goes equally well. More good thoughts headed that way....

I think about you and Ashley all the time, and am so happy to hear that her procedure went well. I hope her health continues to get better!

Wow. I need to do a better job of keeping up. Glad everything went well!

Peppi, the force is still strong here. (grin) Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.

Lars, Ashley still asks about you, I was telling her about your trip to Italy and she was intrigued.

She was discharged at 11:49 am after two ECGs. Apparently there is still a small "spot" that didn't get patched, but it is thought that the heart muscle will grow on the mesh patch and perhaps close itself.

Yes, she had quite an appetite. The entire "menu" was a swiss and mushroom Smashburger with fried dill pickle chips, queso with chips from Qdoba, that frappe from Starbuks and a brownie from the cafeteria bakery! She hadn't eaten for 14 hours and was "starving", LOL.

She's home now, promptly took a 4 hour nap, says her leg is sore where they inserted the scopes, but she's getting around well. We'll see what tomorrow brings, I suppose.

I did send her home on Thursday with a container full of homemade sloppy joes made with grassfed beef, a chuck roast made into Italian Beef with lots of sauce so sandwiches can be "dunked" into the broth, and a large container of BBQ'd chicken breast, along with some whole wheat/butternut squash rolls for sandwich making. All low fat, low sodium and heart healthy, but not as good as a fried dill pickle, apparently!

Woodie that low fat, low salt diet is going to make her crazy, the fan of Cream of Mushroom soup straight out of the can and sauerkraut over mashed potatoes covered with creamed corn. (grin) She'll just have to deal with it, I guess.

Madonna, you're close. The cardiologist says he's shooting for 60 healthy years for her, she's 28 now, so that would get her to 88, at least...

Annie

Glad to hear the good news!

Way late with good thoughts but none the less they are sincere. I think back to the "old days" when Ashley was just starting high school? I know she is younger than Meredith.

My thoughts are with her..........tough to see our young people with health issues......just not fair!

So glad to hear Ashley's on the mend. I too still visualise her as a high school student (and Meredith too for that matter, I remember when she was coming to Oz post high school) :-) It's hard to believe she's 28! Many more happy and healthy years for Ashley!

Wow, with a feast like that being sent home with her, it's a wonder she doesn't get sick more often. ;-)

Since you brought it up, I'm interested in the whole wheat butternut squash rolls you mentioned. Would you mind posting a recipe for that? It sounds really good.

Sally

Annie, I did not want to make a news announcement about this, but as of this week I am semi-retired, working every other week (This week I'm off), and one of the things I want to do with my extra time is take a trip to Michigan, but that cannot happen until next year, I think. I would love to meet Ashley and the rest of your family, and I think we would have a great time. When I was much younger, I used to travel to visit friends frequently, and I think that it would be good to do that again, especially with your family! Kevin would stay behind, however.

Congratulations Lars. Enjoy your semi-retirement. Visiting friends sounds like a great use of your time, especially Annie and family!

Lars, I would LOVE to have you come and visit and Ashley would be so excited! Kevin is more than welcome too, I have a couple of spare bedrooms and if you come in the summer I'm close enough that you could take day trips to places and then come back at night. There are interesting towns up and down the Lake Michigan coast, from Traverse City to Petoskey to Holland and Saugatuck, you wouldn't have to just be at the farm here all the time...

It would be such fun!

Annie

Annie, please send me an email so that I can contact you that way regarding plans for next summer. If you cannot send me an email, you can message me here and send me your email address so that I can contact you that way.

I think it would be great fun to visit you next summer; Kevin and I have planned a trip to Texas and Cozumel for late winter, but by summer, I would be ready for another trip. It's been almost four years since we last visited Texas, and so we are due for another trip there, but it may not be all that pleasant. I'll fill you in with more details when I hear from you. I think it's great that Ashley would want to meet me! I think I would be more compatible with your family than I am with my own, but then my family is rather difficult. Also, Michigan would be an exotic destination for me, since I've never been to the mid-West, unless you count Oklahoma City or Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Annie, missed the earlier post about Ashley's surgery. Just getting caught up.

So glad that everything went well and that she is home recovering. Love that girl's appetite.

Lars, I sent you an email, hopefully you'll get it. If not, my email address is annie1992 at yahoo dot com.

AnnT, her appetite is intact. We are going to the County Fair today to check on the ribbon count, the Princess has entered 11 items, 3 canned goods, 2 candies and 6 baked goods, LOL, she's wanting that Grand Champion ribbon badly!

Ashley is looking forward to an Elephant Ear and the Chamber of Commerce's annual chicken BBQ dinner. (grin) The chicken BBQ is OK, but I think an Elephant Ear is NOT heart healthy. She'd better share with Madi and Maci...

Annie

Hi Annie,

I've been away from the cooking forum for a while! Goodness, you've had your hands full with Ashley! Glad shes doing well and is up to going to the fair! Hope Princess gets that Grand Champion ribbon!

Gotta ask what is an Elephant Ear? Finger crossed for the
Princess.

Nope, no Grand Champion ribbon for The Princess this year, although she got 6 blue ribbons and the rest 2nd and 3rd place, so everything got a ribbon, but not that big purple one. Her brother, however, got one for the leeks he helped me dehydrate last year, go figure. Also a first for garlic, a 2nd for red, white and blue potatoes and a 3rd place for his picture of his dog, LOL.

Partst, an Elephant Ear is a big round of sweet dough, dropped into fat and deep fried, then sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. They are always bigger than the traditional white paper plate they are served on. The Princess and her Brother each had one today, and Madi and Maci shared one. Ashley had one of her own, topped with apple pie filling, but couldn't finish it. Amanda had a caramel apple. Then they all took a couple of rides on the "Tilt-a-Swirl", as Madi calls it, and no one got sick, LOL. Cotton candy for the ride home after petting the cows and horses, the sheep and goats, the pigs and chickens. All washed down with fresh lemonade, a County Fair staple. Some dart throwing and fishing for plastic fish with magnets resulted in several stuffed animals. We'd have stayed longer but Ashley was done after about 3 hours. Me too, and I didn't even eat an elephant ear!

Annie

Sounds like a good time was had by all. I haven’t been to a
county fair for years I think DGS was about 3 so it’s been at least 27 years
but I remember they had fried Twinkies.

Sounds like heaven!

I miss petting cow ears. They're my favorite. Well, that, and seeing their long eyelashes. Not the smartest of creatures, but they have a spot in my heart.

Congratulations to The Princess and her brother! Sounds like everyone had a great time.