Charlotte's Journey

I love surprises. I mostly like doing the surprising but getting one is also so fun. Yesterday we got both! At clinic check up, the doctor told us we could take Charlotte home! Besides a couple check up appointments, she will have 3 weeks home before stem cell transplant #2! And so we loaded down my car with what we could and drove home yesterday afternoon just in time to surprise the kids at the bus stop after school. And we noticed a little God wink when, as we got near our neighborhood and Charlotte could begin to recognize the place she has known all her life but hasn't seen for 6weeks, the radio blasted one of her favorite songs: Rachel Paton's Fight song. And while Charlotte (and let's be honest, me as well!) sang it loudly, we turned on to a road near our neighborhood and literally followed Taylor and Parker's school bus into the neighborhood! It was so cool! She was so excited. And besides wanting to give her dog a little love, she wanted to go straight up to he

Yesterday was Charlotte's 3rd birthday! It was such a special day for her and really for us all. There was once a time a few short months ago that we were so afraid we wouldn't be able to get her to this day. And then if we did, what would it be like? Where would we be? How would she feel? We felt unbelievably blessed to be EXACTLY where we are in time and together to celebrate Charlotte. Yesterday, when I would ask her to tell someone her special news, instead of saying it's her birthday she would say "No hospital today!" This is her world. She was just so happy to have a break after almost 5 weeks everyday of being in or at the hospital. Brian and I advocated for her to have the day off if at all possible and the team said YES! So we had gorgeous weather and a special Golf cart donated by H.E.A.R.T.S. for pediatric bone marrow transplant patients and their families to use while recovering. So she and I rode around the golf course next to Duke and had a picnic

Serendipity, coincidence, godcidence, luck, whatever you call it. If Charlotte's first clinic check up post transplant today had gone as planned, I would have never been sitting where I was when both the founder and the CEO of Cannonball Kids Cancer (CKc) foundation walked in to Duke. And I had hoped to meet both of these women one of these days. First of all, last night and this morning were unfortunately a bit dramatic. Our discharge nurse spent time with me here at the apartment yesterday evening to walk through all our supplies as well as help me set up Charlotte's IV nutrition for my first time to run overnight. I had everything ready. Right before tuck in, I hooked her up and started her pump. I turned my back to grab her book and in a matter of seconds there was a bowling ball size space on the bed of blood. She sleepily smiles feeling nothing thank god as I quickly spring to action clamping her line and assessing the IV. The On call nurse walked me through what to do