Lots of yays among the nays I say

Taking the positive approach over here y'all😊. You know...like when you laugh so you don't cry. We have learned more information today that will keep Charlotte hospitalized through late next week at the least. (This is tough mostly because we are about to be admitted for a month in isolation come September). The potential bacteria strain (a type of bacillus) that she has a lone positive result for and still could be just a contamination issue, has the team not wanting to take any chances going into this transplant. They decided to take a middle of the road approach per say. They only see 1 or 2 cases of this specific bacterial strain a year so they don't have a protocol to test for drug sensitivity to this here at Duke. (it's time to embrace being unique I suppose). Therefore, they sent her culture off to Mayo Clinic and we are in waiting mode to see what medication they recommend to treat Charlotte. Therefore, unless further cultures show up positive, she will NOT need her central line removed and replaced (yay #1), they are having Mayo help find a more strain sensitive antibiotic so we can take her off this highly toxic antibiotic that could harm her kidneys (yay #2), her body is positively reacting to another antibiotic for the other strain we know she has from her cultures and we caught it early so she did not get sick from this bacteria that can be devastating in kids like Charlotte who have no immune system (yay# 3 we dodged that bullet!!), she is here being given excellent care while her white cells and body recovers (yay #4), we have family helping at home and amazing friends and neighbor's offering support as well (yay #5), Charlotte continues to get much one on one time with mommy and daddy without normal daily life distractions interfering (yay #6 for individual attention.)

When we need to see the silver lining, there it is. We dodged a major bullet. According to the experts, any one of these bacterial strains found in the blood in someone like Charlotte could be disastrous. She has been saved again. We pray the meds and Drs keep doing an amazing job with our baby. That her body keeps fighting and responding. That her cancer remains squashed while we take this pause from treatment. And instead of hanging our head that we can't be home, we will be grateful for all the  "yays" written about above.

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows." Hellen Keller

We are feeling the sunshine knowing she will be home when the time is right. Again, our expectations must adjust as we remember set backs are often intentional, well designed, purposeful pieces of her journey. Again, no news is good news from here on out over the next week while we play the waiting game. ❤️

Adapted water play!

After a rain storm

Splash! She's like a moth to a flame if a puddle is near

We hoped to see a rainbow today outside when we took a walk after the rain. But Charlotte and I did not. The sky was gorgeous and it may have been there but I was hoping...then several

People messaged the rainbow they were seeing. Again, Gods timing is a beautiful thing

Raleigh I-40 

AUMC Preschool friends while in Charlotte

Sent to me by our friend Kelly who was saying a prayer thinking of Charlotte and then moments later she saw this on her hotel floor in SC