In the summer of 2022, Charlotte was throwing up daily for about 2 months, we were being evaluated by GI with no answers. She then started having really bad headaches and was not eating very much of anything. She had a seizure and we went into the ED for evaluation. There we had a CT that showed a 4x4x6 cm tumor on her cerebellum. She had not been able to walk very well by herself, which we had attributed to weakness from not eating. Now we realize that was part of the tumor effect as the cerebellum is the center for your balance and coordination.
The day she was diagnosed, she was emergently intubated and had a drain placed to relieve the pressure in her head. The next day, she had a tumor resection and then had 3 weeks of rehab afterward where she essentially learned how to walk again. She has been through 4 cycles of chemo. Each cycle is at least 28 days. Half of them take place almost entirely in the hospital, so Charlotte and I live in the hospital for a month at a time. She has had countless platelet and blood transfusions, CT scans, medications, and lab draws. She has a central line as well as a G-tube and she gets her nutrition and medications through the G-tube.Â
Our biggest struggle as a family is not being able to be together while we have our long cycles in the hospital. Our first hospitalization was from Aug 29-October 25 and our last one was exactly a month long. We can’t be together for weeks at a time, and during those times, my son can’t see his sister as he is not allowed in the hospital due to visitor restrictions. When we are home, there is more of a sense of normalcy, and we find that we are appreciating each other and being together so much more.
God has been at the center of our entire story. He has been so good to us throughout her fight. The tumor was so large, that the neurosurgeon remarked multiple times on its size of it. He had prepped us for a several-hour surgery but was done in less than an hour because it was able to come out in almost one entire piece. Then, our oncologist believed that her cancer subtype was one of the more aggressive (and less responsive to chemo) types based on the initial pathology, but after the final results came back, it unexpectedly ended up being a very responsive subtype. Finally, she had to have a stem cell collection for an auto-transplant during her last extremely high-dose chemo cycle (she will get back her own stem cells to allow her to tolerate the high-dose chemo). Our transplant doctor thought we might get less than half of what we needed (thought we would get 1 million, but needed 2 million). We ended up getting twice the amount we needed (4 million), thanks to the kindness and skill of a wonderful nurse and the prayers of so many people around Charlotte. We are hopeful that God is able to use the struggles that she and our family are going through, as well as his many mercies and miracles, to bring others to Christ.
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