Ally Heintz

May 2008

  • Wed, May 21, 2008 9:31 PM

    So sorry for the delay in updating you all on Ally. She has been home from the hospital again for a week now. We had also headed home to our house for this past weekend so things have been very busy. She is doing well and looking great. Her line did stay in because her cultures had remained negative. She will be continuing on IV antibiotics until the second week in June and then we will follow up with another echocardiogram and an appointment with cardiology. So we will wait and see how things look then.

    Ashley had her last day of school on Tuesday and she had her Kindergarten Graduation today. We took a lot of pictures and video so we will try to add it to the site soon (along with some from the trike-a-thon). After graduation there was a picnic for the whole school and Ashley got to enjoy time with her friends and teachers. It was such a terrific day filled with many reminders and memories of how much Ashley has changed and grown in the past year. Living in Pittsburgh has been a great experience for Ashley. It has given her the opportunity to try many different things and has given her the chance to make many wonderful friends along the way. She has had to deal with and overcome so many things in her five short years of life. I am incredibly proud of her and I am amazed by what a strong little girl she is.

    Hope you all enjoy your holiday weekend. Certainly make the most of it, I know we will!

    Jill

    Comments:
    Stephanie 3CS:  I am so sorry for your loss..Ally was an amazing little girl and will always be in our hearts..Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
    Lynne:  There are no words...thank you for allowing me to be part of your little angel's life here on earth. Ally touched so many hearts, of those she knew and loved, and so many people she'd never even met. My heart aches.
    phx lab:  we are praying for all of you.god bless
    The Bohn Family:  Enjoy your holiday and so glad that Ally is doing well and your all together with your family. Many Blessings to all of you.
    uni-brower:  So glad everyone is home. Enjoy the weekend.
    Carol Yeager:  I am so glad to hear that things are finally going in the right direction for you and your family.I do hope and pray that they continue to keep on going in the right direction,not only for Ally but for all of you. Thanks so much for keeping in touch with us and for letting us know how things have been going.GOD BLESS
    Dawn Stinnard:  Congrats to Ashley on graduation from kindergarden. Hurray for Ally great news on her being home. Keep up the good work.
    The Davidheiser's:  Hooray! Glad to hear everyone will be together for a fun weekend. Enjoy yourselves, you all deserve it. Our prayers continue. Congratulations to Ashley for her big graduation!
    Sheila Duffy:  Great to hear some good news! Enjoy your weekend - safe driving!
    Sheila
    holly:  glad things sre going well.ashley,congratulations on your graduation! can't wait to see you!
    Pastor & Kathy Pearson:  What wonderful news! We give thanks to God for Ashley's graduation and Ally being home. May God continue his blessings. Pastor
    The Bollingers:  So happy to hear that Ally is back home and doing so well. I am sure Ashley is thrilled to have her sister back home to play with and now that her school is over that even gives her more time to play. Enjoy the weekend...it is to be a nice one! Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
    phil h:  glad to hear that Ally's home from the hosptial, and doing better. Let's hope it continues

    Have a great holiday weekend
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  • Mon, May 12, 2008 4:13 PM

    Ally is still in the hospital hanging out in her old stomping grounds on the transplant floor. She is looking and acting remarkably well and today she finally has a negative culture!!! Infectious disease thinks it might still be a good idea to pull the line and place a picc line. This is because Ally has grown two different types of bacteria, one of which is the same kind that was previously assocaited with the area of endocarditis. The problem is she will need a line for another 6 weeks of IV antibiotics and Ally has never had a picc for that amount of time and I am not sure how well it will work.

    Right now the plan is to keep the line in if we can keep it cleared but if we begin to have any trouble with it (flushing or blood return) then we should return to the hospital and have it removed and then have a picc placed. Then hopefully at the end of 6 weeks the line can be pulled and she will no longer need any type of central line access!

    Of course that was the plan this morning and since we all know how well Ally sticks to the plan we will wait and see if the plan is still the same tomorrow!

    Jill
    Jill

    Comments:
    steph:  Hey Jill
    I am sorry tohear ally has had another bump. It is always harder to accept those after feeling good for so long. You guys are in our prayers that you can clear these infections
    Carol Yeager:  Thank you for the update on Ally, I pray that things go well from here on in for all of you.My prayers are allways with you.
    alyssa:  i really think ur website is cool i hope ally will be fine and will never give up ally is very good for her age and everything she is going through!!!She must be a really tough girl!!!i have seen u at my church i go 2 st. johs luthern church!I'll pray for ally everyday and pray she get better u guys hyave to stay strong woth ally and keep ur hopes up and pray u never know what kind of mircle god will give u guys

    -alyssa
    D.Stinnard:  Plans we all know how plans go, in one door and out the next good luck. Hope her spirits stay high and yours do to.
    phil:  Glad to hear that she's doing better, I will continue to pray for her along with second grade Sunday School at St. John's
    The Bollingers:  Glad to hear that Ally is doing well and coping with the hospital stay once again. Soon she will be home. Our thoughts and prayers are with you!
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  • Fri, May 9, 2008 3:30 PM

    I have always hated updating this site with bad news but it seems even more difficult to update with bad news now after having such a long stretch of good updates. So the bad news, Ally is back in the hospital.

    Its kind of all a long story but I brought her to the ER yesterday because she began acting sick (septic shock sick). After a long time in the ER we were admitted to the IICU. The docs felt she needed to be monitored more closely than what she would be on the floor so we settled for the IICU.

    Today Ally is looking a world better than yesterday. She does have positive cultures from both broviac lumens. Currently her peripheral is still negative. There is a lot of discussion if this is a true line infection or if this is a piece of bacteria that has broken off from the endocarditis lesion (which after 6 weeks of IV antibiotics looks about the same).

    Infectious disease, cardiology, and transplant are all putting their heads together to come up with the best plan. We all know what Ally really needs is to get rid of her central line but it is hard to do that when she keeps needing IV antibiotics! Cardiology did tell me that at this point there would still be no reason to think that she would need surgery to remove this lestion so that was a bit of good news for the day. Plus like I said Ally is looking good and at the end of the day that is all I really care about.

    I know Shane added some pictures from the walk and also some video from Ashley's schools trike-a-thon for Ally's Angels (there is also a link to a news story). The trike-a-thon was wonderful, the kids had a blast. I am incredibly touched by the hard work that the teachers, parents, and children put into this event. It was truly a touching day and a memory I will always cherish. They also made a beautiful book of pictures from the event for Ashley and Ally so that they can always remember the day.

    I may update again before but in case I don't, Happy Mother's Day.

    Jill

    Comments:
    CarolYeager:  I am so sorry to hear about ally being back in the hospital again but if this is what will help her than I guess it is for the best. Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be sent her way to help her have a speedy recovery and get back home with her family.Stay strong and keep on praying and hopefully she will get well enough to return home with her loving and caring family.GOD BLESS,
    ALLWAYS THINKING OF YOU.
    Sandra DiCesare:  Thinking of you.... I hope today is a better day for Ally!!!! We love you all.
    Happy Mothers Day Jill!!!!!
    Pastor & Kathy Pearson:  Healvenly Father, watch over Ally in the hospital and bring her healing. We give thanks for good docotrs, nurses and staff. Use their gifts and skills to bring healing to Ally and strength to all her family. Amen.
    Shawna:  Hoping you are feeling better soon sweet girl. I'm praying for you.
    Shawna/Angel_Wings
    http://mommysms.spaces.live.com
    Debbie Anderson:  I AM SORRY TO HEAR THAT YOUR IN THE HOSPTIAL SENDING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY LOTS OF PRAYERS AND HUGS GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY
    Sandy Maicher:  Happy Mother's Day Jill. I'm sorry to hear that Ally is back in the hospital again. You all continue to be in our prayers.
    The Bollingers:  Happy Mother's Day Jill...sorry to hear Ally is back in the hospital. We are keeping everyone in our thoughts and prayers. Stay strong Ally!
    MJ/Angel_Wings:  Sweet Ally I am so sorry you are back in the hospital and I pray you will be feeling better very quickly. I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers precious little girl. Hugs and Blessings
    phil h:  Sorry to hear that Ally is back in the hopstial. Hopefully she gets better soon

    Happy Mother's Day Jill

    Phil Haddad
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  • Fri, May 2, 2008 2:01 PM

    I know I have not really written an update about Ally in awhile so I will try my best to bring you all up to speed but still try to keep this fairly short.

    The girls have been doing great and have just really been busy enjoying their time at home with each other. We have had more walks and trips to the park then I can count in the past few weeks. The weather this past week had a lot to be desired but we still managed one trip to the park and two playdates. Part of me thinks Ashley will be a little bit bored when she no longer has the city life that she has now but I'm sure she will be kept busy all summer catching up with all of her cousins at her Gram's and Grandmom's.

    Now that Ally really has no medical complications standing in her way we are working on getting her caught up developmentally with things. Feeding will be one of our biggest challenges. Eventually Ally will take all of her calories by mouth but we are years aways from that. Not that I am complaining, she will get there at some point and in the big picture of things I am fine with that. However it is a daily struggle to just get her to touch or smell food so just imagaine what it will be like to get her to willingly put food into her mouth!

    Physically Ally has been getting more of her strength back. She is not quite back to where she was last year before transplant but she is definitely getting close. She has also been fitted for some orthotic type braces for her feet that should help her some with her walking. She of course hates them but hopefully she will be used to them soon. Which brings me to another one of my latest challenges, shoe shopping! Definitely something I would have never thought I would have a problem with. However finding shoes that these braces fit into has been nearly impossible. Not to mention Ally picked the colors for the braces and she did not pick anything subtle or girly, she picked bright red straps and red white and blue straps! Not the most fashionable choice but she picked so I will just deal with it:)

    On Monday Ashley's school is holding a trike-a-thon for the kindergarten class in which the money they raised went to our Ally's Angels team for the gift of life donor walk. Together the children at the school have raised over $2,500!!! All of the kids are very excited to participate in this event and Ally will be there to help cheer them on. Ashley's teachers and some of the other childrens' mothers have coordinated this whole thing and they have certainly put a lot of time and effort into it so it should be a lot of fun.

    Otherwise transplant clinic has gone well and Ally's labs have continued to look good. The docs have been able to decrease some of her meds and IV fluids so that is another step in the right direction. She is still on IV antibiotics for another week or so for the endocarditis. She had an echocardiogram done the other week and we are still waiting on those results to find out if there is anything else we need to do or if things are all cleared up.

    If you have been following up on Zac thank you for all the prayers and support. I know his family appreciates it. He is doing well and has had one trip back to the OR since transplant. He will probably be headed there again early next week so please continue to keep him in your prayers.

    Hope you all enjoy the Spring weather!
    Take care,
    Jill

    Comments:
    Kimmy:  Hi everyone! I saw the news clip on ally and she looks wonderful! What a nice thing for ash's school to do. I miss you but Im glad you guys arent in house. Take care and hopefully I only see you on clinic days :)
    Tracy Lambeth:  Wow - it's delightful to hear about how much progress Ally has made. Such a blessing it is for you all to be able to take a walk with your beautiful girls to the park. God bless - we still continue to pray for you all the time (all the way out here in Arizona!)
    uni-brower:  enjoy the walks & fun--Shoe shopping should be fun take pictures for us--HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to you and to all--love to all
    Carol Yeager:  I was so glad to hear that things are finally going in the right direction finally. Please hug both girls for me and tell them that they will forever be in my prayer as so will you.GOD BLESS AND I will pray thay things will keep getting better each day for all of you.
    steph:  Glad to hear about the simple problems. glad she is doing so well. Just in time for spring and nice weather... take care, cant wait until you guys get back this way!
    Dawn Stinnard:  Sounds like you're having alot of fun on those walks. That sounds wonderful. Sounds like great news coming in for Ally hope everything stays that way or gets better. Always in my prayers.
    The Davidheiser's:  It is so great to hear that everyone is doing so well. Ally and Ashley deserve to go to the park together like sisters should. It is a wonderful thing. We will keep up the prayers for you all. They sure seem to be working!
    Carla B:  Very happy for Ally and you all. Enjoy spring!
    Kristin Hedgelon:  So happy to read a wonderful update! It was great to meet you all at the walk (I was with Steph). Keep up the good work! We pray for y'all daily.
    The Bollilngers:  So happy to hear that everyone is doing well. Ally continues to be in our thoughts and prayers. Good luck in finding shoes...
    Sandy Maicher:  I'm glad to hear that Ally is doing well. We continue to keep all of you in our prayers and hope that you will be heading home soon. Hugs to all of you.
    Rachel Frey:  That is the best news I have heard in a long time, your hard work is finally paying off. Keep it up and enjoy your girls!
    Tracy/Angel_Wings:  God bless you Ally and family! What a great report. I am praising God for how far you've come. You are loved and prayed for.
    Pastor & Kathy Pearson:  What a wonderful update! We give thanks to God for Ally's good progress and Ashley's joy at being in Pittsburg. Certainly there are new challenges each day, but how refreshing to be worrying about shoes! God is good.
    phil h:  Glad to hear that Ally is doing well
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