We Are Home

      We have made it home from another round of chemo.  We are officially half way through our chemo rounds! This stay in the hospital was a little more difficult than our others in the past.  Charlotte got a really bad diaper rash the first night that made diaper changes very painful.  Since she is receiving chemo treatments, the hospital has her getting diaper changes every two hours because she is tinkling out some of the chemo drug, and they do not wanting her sitting in it, even overnight.  Her night time diaper changes were painful, and made it difficult for her to go back to sleep.  Around 4:00, we gave her some nausea medicine, because it seemed she was having some nausea too, and that seemed to help calm her down and finally get some sleep. 

     The next day Charlotte was back to her normal playful self.  She was running the halls, playing with her toys and enjoying a visit from her favorite furry buddy Ralph, the service dog.  Charlotte has really started taking steps and enjoyed being out of her room, walking the hallways when she is not receiving chemo.   I think one of her favorite parts is getting to see all her favorite nurses and practice her steps and waving around them. Charlotte also took some steps, some really big girl independent steps.  She took as many as four one time!  Charlotte also met some new friends in the halls.  Due to being new to the area, in and out of hospitals, and now with her chemo diagnosis, she has not been around many kids her size.  She was very excited to meet some new friends and kept trying to go up and play, and pointing at them. 

     The second night was a little bit better.  Charlotte did wake up and had a hard time going back to sleep, but after about a half an hour she did finally sleep without the need of any medicine.  She then slept well the rest of the night.  Today Charlotte enjoyed walking the halls again.  She also was able to spend some time in the playroom.  This gave Charlotte the opportunity to try out some new toys.  She really enjoyed an old classic that played music and had animal sounds when you spin the middle.  She also really enjoyed the tricycle.  Charlotte was able to take the tricycle out for a spin around the halls of the hospital and get some practice.  She is now ready to join her PopPop in the MS 150 next year!

    We are now home and Charlotte has taken a really good nap.  She is happy and playful right now and we are just enjoying these moments.  In about a week and a half we will have scans that will let us know how the metastatic lesions are responding to the chemo.  We have been warned that hardly any shrinkage is possible, so to not be too worried about that.  What they are looking for is to make sure that nothing new has developed or that the lesions are not growing.  Please pray that we receive good results from the scans.  This will also be when Charlotte gets another bone marrow biopsy which is going to be painful for her.  I pray that she heals quickly from that. 

     Thank you again for all your constant prayers and uplifting us all in your thoughts.  We are blessed beyond words by everyone.  Please continue to pray for Charlotte as we continue this journey.  We are only half way through but hopefully soon we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Some people never get to meet their hero, but I gave birth to mine.

#CharlotteStrong

#CharlotteCancerConquerer

#CharlotteIsONEderful