Charlotte's Journey

One of my favorite quotes, " What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us,"  speaks to me through Charlotte at this moment. She defines this in many metaphoric and symbolic ways. Optimism has its place when going through something like this. Our fears creep up as naturally they should, but optimism shines through the darkness and reflects hope and possibility at our darkest moments. Optimism is a choice. But it is not meant to exist in any contrast to reality. It should not distort but reveal another side of the possible. This is how we choose to cope. And so I wanted to write this message to all of you who are cheering your hearts out for Charlotte, and praying up a storm as she tackles this disease because my posts can read optimistic in nature (and should because I usually write them from that place in my heart) but I do not mean to distort any reality. Many of our beloved village members have reached out to us personally af

A grown adult would be nursing themselves for a couple weeks after the abdominal surgery Charlotte just had. Six days after surgery, Charlotte is not only back home but pretty much keeping up with her brother and sister again. Unbelievable! Children are so resilient. Charlotte certainly is. Besides a bladder infection probably from the catheter she had for 5 days, she is recovering beautifully! Her pain is low and managed by Tylenol alone so far. We have a stronger narcotic for break through pain but she hasn't needed it. And her appetite is returning quickly as well. This entire surgery has been a complete success. We feel so blessed. Our 3 amigos are happily playing together again. And Charlotte's battle scar...well it follows the bottom of her rib cage across her abdomin...in the shape of a rainbow❤️🌈. She wears it proudly and understands how "the doctors cut my tumor out. And I feel better". But wait for it...as if the news couldn't get any better it does.

If there was a way to crush and dominate recovering from a surgery such as the one she had, well Charlotte is doing it. Less then 48hrs after her 10 hour surgery, she has been moved from the ICU to a normal hospital room to finish her recovery. She did not need the support they assumed she would need and so she is trucking along beautifully. She still has her epidural for some pain management but she hasn't needed any oxygen or blood pressure support. The PICU nurses expected her to be intibated with a breathing tube after that type of surgery for the length that it was but when they received her postop, it had already been removed by the surgical team as they could tell based on various factors that she didn't need it for recovery! She is crushing it!! Next step, is to hope that her bowels begin to wake up so that we can remove the NG (nasogastro) tube assisting in reducing accumulation of stomach bile. Once she shows signs of that, then she can start to try to take in some

I have never had a moment like this one. Where all 4 of us witnessed a moment like the one we all had minutes before the surgeon came out of the OR to talk with Brian and I. We had gotten the message that Dr.Tracy was closing and she would be out to talk with us shortly. We knew the surgery was over and we could see our little girl again. Brian and I were hugging, Doug (Brian's dad) and Brad (our friend) were both still there after 11 hours, close by, waiting with us. Brad was looking out the window from where we had been sitting and waiting all day. He was praying. And this small rainbow began to appear in front of his eyes. We watched in awe as it became more clear. It was hard to speak and we all were over come with emotion. I laughed and teared up. We all had chills. There was no rain. And it was vertical, not even in a shape of a bow. But the colors of the rainbow were there in the sky right between the buildings in downtown Durham . Right where we could see it from the Duke

Charlotte is in recovery in the ICU! After about 10 hours, Dr. Tracy came out to tell us it was a complete SUCCESS. More details to come, but for now Charlotte is tucked away in the PICU for tonight trying to get some rest, although very agitated and uncomfortable. Her cry is music to our ears as we will stay by her side to comfort her all night. Finally, after we had gotten the update that they were closing and the doctor would be out to talk to us shortly, we sighed a sigh of relief and cried tears of hope and joy and then....our friend Brad looked out the window directly where we had been waiting all day, since 9:30 am. Although it hadn't even rained, the sun was starting to set and right in front of our view was a tiny yet mighty rainbow. Just like our Charlotte. We couldn't believe it...it took our breath away. We laughed and cried and took in the awesome beauty from God. Hope continues. She will keep moving. Thank you God. Thank you friends and family for being here wit

Latest update from Surgeon: all is going well! Major tumor is out!! All major blood vessels are located and they are continuing to work slowly removing and clearing the cancer. It will still be a couple more hours but we are thanking God everything is going as planned so far. Keep the prayers coming and thank you amazing village!

Charlotte, Parker, and Taylor are playing at my feet. They are in a pretend world with our kitchen utensils as they fix the car, otherwise known as our kitchen table. They are quite the team. I want this moment to last forever. Charlotte full of spunk and spirit, happy, playing, not a care in her world. But we can't stay here can we. Brian and I didn't want to put her to bed. But he said it best tonight, in order for her to have more of these nights, tomorrow needs to happen. Tomorrow is the day we have prayed to get to. We hoped and prayed to get her to this point where surgery is possible to remove this massive abdominal tumor. And we are here. She did it. And we are choosing to celebrate that fact going into tomorrow instead of focus on our fears and worries. This week has been incredibly emotional for Brian and I. After the surgical consult Monday, we tried to block out the world the best we could and enjoy some family time to gear up for this next milestone. Initially, the

We can't believe it worked out but somehow we woke up and Charlotte's counts almost tripled to over 700! We are home! The children ran off together as if they hadn't skipped a beat and Doug and Joanne (pops and Mimi), who have been here for several days while we were hospitalized, got to spend a couple hours at our home with all us all before their flight home. Although we plan to have a laid back, low key 4th of July, it will be full of some of our favorite things: family, food, ice cream, playing, sparklers, and some form of fireworks (neighborhood, TV, and maybe daddy drive way fireworks). We are so grateful to have her home and to be together as a family to celebrate our wonderful nation and all of those who have served for our freedoms. If all goes as planned, we will all be home together until the surgery scheduled for July 14. And we will take in and soak up every second. Sending love to each of you with warm wishes for fun with family and friends on this 4th of Ju

We have preliminary results from Charlotte's CT scan and it's great news! The abdominal tumor is "significantly reduced" from her last scan in May and the evidence that existed showing bone marrow involvement is no longer evident. I don't have specifics because we haven't seen our doctors yet. Brian was here with Charlotte all last night and all day today and waited before going back home to the kids just in case someone would have gotten to her scans yet. But she didn't even finish up until 4pm on a Friday over a holiday weekend. We assumed surely everyone would be gone by the evening. But...a short while ago, a kind nurse who could sense the worry in me reached out to the on call fellow on our team asking them to contact us if they had any info regarding the scans. And the doctor was able to tap in to the system from her home to see if the scan had even been read and recorded yet. And it had! She called me up and here we are HALLELUJAH!! Brian and I were