Big day going well

Charlotte is out of surgery and has woken up from anesthesia. The procedure was a success and now we are hooked up to a pheresis machine which will harvest her stem cells for the next 4-6 hours. She is now comfortable and was finally able to eat something (was borderline inconsolable for some food haha...she takes after her mother there😁), she is resting peacefully unaware of all the business around her. In true Charlotte form, before the OR procedure, she stood her ground and in no way was going to accept the changing from her comfy PJs into the hospital gown. I tell you this because it is an important characteristic that is innate in Charlotte and we want everyone to know that this little girl you are cheering for is strong and determined. She has a strength, a spirit, a drive about her that cannot be squashed. She will not lay iddly by and choke down her own opinions on how this show will be run. Oh how we love this about her. Even upon waking up, her persistence for muffins (hey atleast she was specific 😝) was an example of her tenacity. Oh I could tell you some stories from just this week alone: how I pulled over 4 times the other morning to rebuckle her back into her car seat (I didn't even know she could wrangle her upper body out and how she did this I can't figure out?!?) because she was not happy about having to go back for an appointment, or how last night she went to bed in just her diaper and her new robe someone gave her as a gift because she didn't want to take it off to put PJs on for bedtime. (OK Miss Charlotte, you get to win some battles and maybe this helps us in some way win the war.) These qualities will serve her well as we battle this cancer.

Watching our little girl be rolled away from us into the operating room is borderline excruciating. Waiting while she was in surgery was hopefully the hardest part of today. It will be a long day here today as we harvest and then wait for them to count the cells to be sure we have enough.  If all goes according to plan, they can remove the line they put in this morning and we will go home this evening without needing to harvest more tomorrow. But there is very little rest for the weary as our girl will begin round 3 of chemo in just a few days. So our hopes are to be home enjoying some R and R this weekend as we gear up for the next chapter in this fight. We are feeling your love and prayers as always.