We Are Safe

           We have made it home!! We had a very uneventful short stay in the hospital.  Thankfully,  Charlotte did amazingly well, and only stayed one night. While there Charlotte really enjoyed running around the floor saying hi to all her nurses, and making some very sweet friends.    We have been home since Friday early afternoon, just in time to watch all the scary coverage on Hurricane Harvey.  My little Wonder woman still continues to be the happiest little girl I have ever seen. 

            Thank you again for all the prayers and love.  We are now going to ask for more prayers, but not for us.  We want y’all to pray for those families who have little babies that couldn’t get out of Corpus or Rockport.  Pray for those critically ill babies who did get out of Driscoll Hospital, and are now in the NICU at Cook Children’s.  Pray for all those people who have lost everything they own in the last 24 hours.  We are home, and healthy right now.  The ones that need the prayers are our families and friends in Houston and the surrounding areas that are watching everything they own float away in rising waters. Houston will always be my home, the place I was born and raised.  It breaks my heart to see my home so broken and destroyed.  I pray for all of those that are still having to be rescued and who have lost everything.  What heals my heart is the continual coverage on facebook of those every day heroes helping strangers and neighbors.  I fine solace in knowing that when the worst happens my hometown shows their true colors helping one another no matter their race, background or religion. 

“Believe in miracles.  I have so many.  They came when every indication would say that Hope was lost.  Hope is never lost!” – Jeffery R. Holland

#HoustonStrong

#CharlotteStrong

#CharlotteCancerConquerer

Round 6

            Here we go.. round 6! Charlotte has made counts and we have been admitted for round 6.  This will hopefully be an uneventful stay.  We will only be in the hospital one night and will go home tomorrow.  We are so grateful for these one day stays because as wonderful as Cooks is, it is not always the most comfortable place to sleep for several nights – especially for Charlotte. 

            We are so grateful and blessed for all your prayers and thoughts as we go through this difficult time in our life.  Charlotte is such a beyond blessed little girl to have so many people who love and support her. 

            September is Childhood Cancer awareness month, so here is my early apology for all the posting I will be doing to help bring awareness to Childhood Cancer.  Childhood Cancers receive only 4% of funding from the government.  4 FREAKING PRECENT!!  Thank goodness for all the donations and charities that help support Childhood Cancer research.  We need more support and research money to continue to develop and research cancer treatments until we find a CURE!!! There are some really good foundations like Cooks and the St. Baldrick’s foundation. (We are taking the little bit of money left over from the Charlotte Strong shirts and donating to both of these organizations, because Cooks gives Charlotte the treatment, and The St. Baldrick’s foundation is where Charlotte’s tumors have been sent so she can be a part of a research study).  I have seen so many babies give their lives to fighting this ugly disease.  We need to find a cure now!

“If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them.  When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope?  We have two options, medically and emotionally; give up, or fight like hell.” – Lance Armstrong

 

Bustin' Outta Here

            We are home safely after an uneventful round five.  GOD IS SO GOOD!! We came home late Saturday evening.  Charlotte was very strong during our stay.  Her second night was much better.  She only woke up once around 4 am after her diaper change.  I was able to feed her, after I took away a baby wipe she was trying to eat, and she laid back down and was on her way to go back to sleep.  The sweet nurses needed to come back in for something else and that got Charlotte back up again.  She was very excited when she found Christopher sleeping on the cot and kept pointing at him saying Dada.  It was really cute but also time for her to go back to sleep.  She did finally go back to sleep and so did I.  On her last day at the hospital, Charlotte met more wonderful friends on the floor and played a lot with the nurses.  She really loves all the nurses on the H/O floor and has fun walking around the unit.  She also knows where the play room is and loves walking there to see all the animals painted on the window and play with all of the toys.  Charlotte’s diaper rash is much better and remained better during this stay.

            The longer we are going down this new path that has been given to us the more thankful I am to God for putting us where we are today.  I am so grateful for the amazing doctors and nurses who love and care for Charlotte.  I am so grateful for the wonderful people I have met through Cook’s.  The fellow moms and dads going through this horrible situation are so strong and incredible and give me so much strength.  I am so sad the circumstances in which I have met these incredible people, but I am so glad I have met them.  Finally, I am so thankful to live so close to family now.  They have continued to be our life lines while in the hospital.  We cannot say enough to our families on how much it means to have them here ever three weeks helping us.  Please continue to pray for Charlotte as she continues through this journey.  Please pray for all the other families on the H/O unit.  So many of these families are going through struggles even we will never know.  These babies at the H/O unit are a lot stronger than we have ever been. These sweet kids need our prayers and love as they fight the biggest battle on their lives.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Thank you so much for all of y’alls prayers.  We are so blessed. 

Love,

 Brittany, Christopher and Charlotte

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

#CharlotteStrong

#CharlotteCancerConquerer

           

 

Round 5

            Charlotte made counts!! They actually more than doubled from the 550 on Monday to over 1600 on Thursday.  We have been admitted and began round 5 yesterday.  Last night, she received two chemo drugs.  She will receive one today and one tomorrow. Charlotte had a rough night last night.  Her chemo went really late which meant that she was awakened often during her early sleeping stages.  At around 1:00 am, Charlotte was awake and not happy. She was only able to fall asleep in our arms.  After several hours, we were able to get her some anti-nausea medicine and that finally helped her to fall asleep in her hospital bed. Today so far has been fairly uneventful.  Charlotte has enjoyed walking around the unit and had a sweet visit from Lulu (one of the service dogs), and her friend Kizzy.  We should be starting day 2 of chemo sometime later tonight and go home tomorrow after day three of chemo. 

            Thank you so much for all your prayers.  We can really feel the love and blessings that are being laid upon us.  We are so blessed to have all of y’all in our lives.  Charlotte is one blessed little girl.

“Life isn’t about waiting for storm to pass.  It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivan Greene

#CharlotteStrong

#CharlotteCancerConquerer

 

Charlotte giving Lulu kisses                          Charlotte and Lulu