Recovering from Last. Chemo. Ever. Please God

By -
Our little fighter is simultaneously recovering from chemo AND what appears to be a little virus. Tuesday, she couldn’t keep down food or water and then she spiked a fever which landed us back at the hospital for a few hours, but Wednesday she was feeling much better and is on the mend🌈

Just when I think she can’t surprise me any more, she does. 

During the ER visit following the fever protocol, she asked to pull out some Kindergarten work😳🤷🏻‍♀️😂This girl is so determined. Determined to keep up with her class, determined to just be a 5 year old kid and juggle whatever is laid on her plate during this life she’s been given. I had a weak moment feeling exhausted and really wanting a break from the hospital yesterday and I began to feel sad that THIS is the life she knows. A life that revolves around hospitals and treatments and pokes and scans and medications and pain. I began to go down that thought process of how Brian and I want so much MORE for her, and all those protective thoughts you might imagine. And as soon as I started down that path, she smiles and says something happy and with spirit and asks to take an activity out of our bag and do homework or read or play or laugh or cuddle or whatever it is that she says with an easy wisdom she shouldn’t even have yet and instantly I am snapped out of it. Brian and I mourn for the loss of what we can only understand as a life we wished for for her, for all of us. That life looked different in our hopes and dreams then it looks today. But I know that old world has fallen away and is no longer. In front of us is a new and bigger world where the hope and possibilities are STILL endless. THIS is a gift. A gift Charlotte and her brother and sister help to give us through their own sweet hearts and spirits. When we want to cry or hide or run, they help us feel JOY, and get up, and splash some water on our face, and get back to work and PLAY. Or do homework🤷🏻‍♀️😂🥰🌈


#Charlottestrong #Charlotterocks
She is definitely Taylor’s sister. These words would never come out of Parker’s mouth😆




Determined




Nausea and fatigue 

Helping each other goof off when we both really want  to be home and have a break from the hospital 


Rest and recuperation. She is still having some nausea and her appetite is low although able to go to school today. 

Saw this gem today while I volunteered in Charlotte Kindergarten class! I don’t know what I love more: Charlotte looking like an adorable  sesame street character, the
cute head wrap hat she helped craft,  or the comment about what she likes🥰 It’s a KEEPER for sure 

Comments

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

A fresh start for round 3

By -
Image
You know those weekends that you just don't want to end? The ones you want to freeze in time? It was a simple one and usually not even worth a mention. Because all we did was spend time together playing at home, saw some friends and family, enjoyed each other, just low key fun and quality time. It was just one of those weekends that we all usually take for granted and really WE SHOULD. I mean, as parents, yes, we all try to soak up the sweet moments and memory making times with our children. But we shouldn't have to relish every moment where our children are feeling happiness. We shouldn't have to soak up every day we can all be together. Or embrace each day our child feels healthy enough for normal play. No one should have to live their entire lives living in the sweet moments for fear it could all be pulled out from under them. But we are learning that this is our new reality. That the normalcy we use to take for granted is now precious time because as we travel down this...
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. ...
Read more