As far as Ashley's physical recovery from surgery is concerned, she has progressed wonderfully. Even shortly after the surgery was completed, she was answering questions from the doctors such as, "What is your name?" and "Where are you?". She seems to have been cognizant all along of what was going on around her. While in ICU, she was given Morphine as needed for pain, and continued to receive steroids to control possible swelling associated with brain surgery. She is now receiving Tylenol with Codeine for pain and will soon be weaned down to just regular Tylenol. The steroids are being gradually cut back as well.

Ashley got out of bed twice during the night Thursday to go to the bathroom. (This was the first time she had done this since surgery, because she had been hooked up to a urinary catheter during her stay in ICU.) She needed help both times (naturally), but seemed a little stronger and took bigger steps the second time.

Ashley has always been a very independent, "strong-willed" child, and we have seen many signs of this aspect of her personality showing through since the surgery was performed on Tuesday. For this we are thankful. All these things combine to give us incredible hope and optimism that God is healing our little angel Ashley, and that she is on her way to being back with us "in full force"!

THE BIG QUESTION

The main question now concerns the pathology report from the lab. Was the tumor benign or malignant? The daddy in me worries about the answer to that question. However, just like at every other step of this journey, we have turned it over to the Lord. I don't know what the answer will be. We are praying, as so many of you are, that the lab report will show the tumor to be benign. That would be the most wonderful news we could hear about all of this right now. However, even if the report shows that the tumor was malignant, we will never give up hope. God is much more powerful than even a malignant brain tumor. God created Ashley's precious little body, and He is certainly powerful enough to provide complete healing if that fits with His will for our lives. I hope and I fervently pray that it does. We hope to know the answer to that question by this afternoon (Friday).