Huge news: Day 1 ENGRAFTMENT!

By -
Unbelievable! Charlotte's baby stem cells are rock stars and got straight to work! Today the doctors are calling day 1 of engraftment! Her white blood cell count jumped way up past a certain number and so her ANC is over 800! Her levels need to be here for next 3 days and then she'll be considered engrafted. After just a week, her bone marrow has grown and is producing all the blood cells she needs to survive. She is having lots of bone pain but this type of pain is growing pain. We like to think of this as good pain and can be managed. The doctors felt we got a really good harvest of stem cells back in April, with plenty of these baby cells to help repopulate and rescue her marrow. She has proven this correct. This is a fast recovery. We feel soooo blessed! I can't say for certain if this gives her a chance to have more time in discharge (and maybe more time home??) before her next stem cell transplant in November. But it's a start! Her immune system is basically reborn therefore she has no immunization "memory", similar to a newborn baby, so keeping her healthy is obviously a priority. But we couldn't be more pleased with her response! Truly remarkable again. Thank you God and thank you all for your prayers!

Charlotte says she wants long red hair and an Elsa braid when her hair grows back so one of our nurses made her an Elsa braid




Comments

  1. EvansOctober 2, 2016 at 6:48 PM

    So not surprised Charlotte is responding so well! She's a rockstar!! She's here for a reason and she will keep pushing!! Grow cells grow!! Big love and prayers to keep going!! 💖🌈👑☺️

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 2, 2016 at 8:31 PM

    Woohhoooo!!! Fantastic news!!! Keep rockin' it Charlotte!!! What a blessing. Keep growing cells! Love to you all 😘🌈❤️

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wendy DupreeOctober 2, 2016 at 9:08 PM

    So happy to read this good news! Will still be praying for sweet Charlotte and for you, Jennifer.
    Wendy and Scott Dupree

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ashleigh CannonOctober 3, 2016 at 7:32 AM

    Praising God for this wonderful news! She is so strong -- no surprise that her stem cells are, too. Your family continues to be in my prayers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownOctober 3, 2016 at 12:15 PM

    PG
    She is incredible
    Yeah !!!!!!!!
    LH
    Pops

    ReplyDelete
  6. Annette StackOctober 3, 2016 at 2:29 PM

    Amazing news!! We have been praying so hard. Go Charlotte Go!! You are a superstar and you are amazing. Thank God! Love to all xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 3, 2016 at 11:10 PM

    Charlotte is amazing but I think you all already knew that. We love you all and James says his dinos look good and are keeping watch. Sending hugs. Xoxo

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ROUND 2 under way

By -
Image
It was exactly 4 Monday's ago. We left our pediatrician and ended up here at Duke Children's just about this time of day where we were about to receive Charlotte's cancer diagnosis. It was any parents worst nightmare as we came to learn and understand this diagnosis. It feels like 4 months ago. We are still coping and feeling our way, but never in a million years could I imagine being in this "place" that we are today, emotionally and spiritually. We are still coping and going through the grieving stages, but hearing the news today that Charlotte is healthy enough to begin round 2 was great news. A couple weeks ago, hearing that your child needed chemo was gut wrenching but today it is music to our ears. It means Charlotte has recovered from round 1 and is ready to continue to fight and heal while we all cheer her on. Her spunky spirit is back. She had a wonderful, restful weekend home playing with Taylor and Parker and also getting to see some family and a few f
Read more

Reliving June 13

By -
Image
Today in 2019, was probably the hardest day of my life. You might have thought that would have been the day she was diagnosed or maybe that scary time we had during Charlotte’s transplant, but it was today. We snapped this picture below waiting for Charlotte’s doctors to come into her examination room during her standard check up at Duke. Mere minutes later, we saw more than the normal 4 feet in front of the door (the oncologist and NP that would see her). When the door opened and child life was there—Brian and I instantly knew. Child life had come to distract Charlotte so we could talk to her doctors. The world went into slow motion and I don’t know how I didn’t hit the floor if I’m honest. Brian’s face instantly drained of color. We knew immediately her scans had shown her disease, her cancer, had returned.  After all she had been through, all we had seen, all we had survived as a family…this day drained the hope out of me and I can still have a visceral response remembering it. Of c
Read more

Getting some sleep and planning on a wagon ride!

By -
Image
Good morning! They think we might get to a room later today! Steps closer to coming home! Her X-ray showed improvement with lung fluids. Still fighting a fever and needs oxygen. Finally got put back in solids and ate some bites of spaghetti last night. We both slept better last night too. We didn't get out yesterday so maybe today. We have a wagon and are hoping to take her for a ride maybe even to see the helicopter on the roof:) Got a little kick in the gut with some news specifically regarding her tumor genetics. I was really down and having a hard time last night. But woke to a new day. And Brian has a contact in Cincinnati who put him into contact with a leading researcher for high risk NB and after talking with him we feel better about not just our current plan here at Duke but also about all the new research that hasn't even been published yet which has MUCH better prognosis outcomes for someone like Charlotte. I really needed to hear that and the timing of this doctor
Read more