Recovering at home & prayers needed for stem cell harvesting

It's days like this when we see the life and spirit of Charlotte in full force that it is so hard to believe she has cancer. How it is possible that this little light is as sick as she is and is battling this horrible disease. She has had such a happy weekend home. She is playful and cheerful and showing all little snippets of the old Charlotte who had not been well enough to play like this in months. Charlotte started showing extreme fatigue in early February which is why we went to the pediatrician. They did a CBC and found her hemoglobin was low. They didn't see anything else troubling so they asked us to come back for several weeks to see if her hemoglobin would recover on its own as there are temporary conditions that could cause this. She had no energy to play or even walk around after a while. Then her appetite decreased and she had constipation that wouldn't go away no matter what we tried. Her abdomen began to enlarge as well and we knew we needed to get to the bottom of this and we're ready to see a specialist even if just to get a scan to be sure there wasn't any intestinal blockage.. Never could we have imagined she had a large tumor growing and snaking its way around all of her abdominal organs, spreading into her bone marrow. That something like that was growing inside of our baby, stealing away her energy, joy, and spirit.

We have another battle to face this week. The doctors have scheduled her stem cells to be harvested. Charlotte will need stem cells to help rescue her own bone marrow that will be depleted after 6 rounds of chemo. The bone marrow makes all the different blood cells we need to survive so receiving her own stem cells is vital to her survival.  For this harvesting to occur next week, she needs to be healthy so that when they transplant her own stem cells back to her when I'm a few months, she won't be in danger of receiving any infections that would currently be in her own blood. However, this week they detected an adenovirus (cold/respiratory) virus in a nasal swab and if results show it in her blood then they will have to post pone harvesting this round. She is asymptomatic and the hope is she doesn't have the virus but we will know results Tuesday. Please pray for no virus so that we can get her stem cells this round instead of waiting for another round. We don't want to play any odds or worry each round if she is healthy enough to do it.

We have had our parents continuing to take turns coming down to help this past month, along with tons of amazing friends and neighbors helping with meals, groceries, Parker and Taykor, even Lucy! We have received countless care packages for the children and gift cards and such for us all. I promise one day I will get a proper thank you out to each of you. We cannot begin to form the words to express our gratitude. As we focus all our energy on what we need to do to get our little girl healthy, we try to take time to recognize all the efforts of our family and friends around us for if it wasn't for you all, we would be lost and struggling beyond what I can even fathom. And thank you to those who may not be able to be here in person to help us, but who continue to reach out to Brian and/or I. Whether it's an encouraging message, a card, a joke, a prayer, something light hearted, or heart felt...they all help carry us, warm us, and keep us feeling connected and human.

I have recently realized something. When Taylor was born, I never thought I could love anything as much as her. And then Parker came along and somehow my capacity for love grew. I never thought I could love any 2 children more, and then Charlotte was born. I never thought my heart could be any more full of love then it was with our little family of five. And then we began this battle. And I realized, a parents capacity for love is such a God given gift. It is SUPPOSE to keep expanding and growing with your children: no matter where they are, or what you are going through, or what they are going through. That love is like no other and as we walk this road with Charlotte, I can only see it growing and getting stronger. I thank God for that gift. Love is the best medicine.

After quite the resistance, She has accepted the hat! 

Pure joy on a gorgeous day