See ya later, oxygen!

What a busy month! Charlotte has definitely transitioned into the toddler phase. She never sits still. Ever. What a blessing that she is so active. She crawls all over the place and is cruising along furniture. She is also starting to experiment with letting go and standing on her own which is scary. We use her push toy to practice walking now. It won't be long! We have been at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia a lot this month. They performed all of her pre-transplant testing, and here is where we stand: 1) Her kidney reflux test showed that her kidneys are now functioning properly without reflux. See ya later kidney medication! 2) Her CT Scan was perfect. No problems were detected. 3) Her MRI showed only a low level of iron in her liver from all of the red blood cell transfusions she has received. So, they are not worried about the function of her liver during transplant like they initially thought they would be. 4) This is the biggie. The bone marrow biopsy showed that Charlotte does in fact have no platelets in her bone marrow and only 10% functioning of her red and white cell lines. So, the doctor confirmed with us that she does have CAMT which is the original diagnosis they suspected. However, they have not found the genetic cause for her disease. So, they took some skin with the biopsy so that in the future, when they find other genetic causes for this disease, they can test Charlotte's cells to see if they see that genetic cause. Science is amazing. The fact that Charlotte has such poor function of her bone marrow is a good and a bad thing. This means they will not have to use very much of the chemo to wipe out Charlotte's existing marrow cells, because there aren't many cells there to wipe out. However, it means we need to start the transplant now. 5) Her lungs are HEALED!!!!!! While staying at the hospital, they monitored her breathing with a machine while she was awake and sleeping. Her lungs now read 100% without any help from extra oxygen. The doctors waited to do her transplant mainly until they felt her lungs could tolerate the transplant process. Now her lungs are functioning perfect on their own! The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is the most amazing hospital. We have had a chance to stay on their oncology/bone marrow unit. What a great unit. Charlotte had her first ride in a radio flyer! She loved it. She sat in the middle and played with her toys. She loved to wave at all the staff members. She also made a lot of friends who are receiving chemo just like she will be. We also participated in our own personal art therapy session. Charlotte made her first Picasso with big, fat markers. (With a little help from mommy.)  Everyday we listen to music, especially country, and we listen to it all day. She has learned to dance and has quite the dance moves. The nurses play Carrie Underwood for her while mommy is out of the hospital, and they think it is wonderful that she has such a love of music. Music is so healing! Charlotte saw a nutritionist daily too, and she wrote in her assessment that Charlotte is "very  charming." I think that is the general consensus from the entire oncology unit. The nurses take Charlotte to hang out with them at the nurses station all of the time. From the nurses to the anesthesia doctors, everyone has had perfect communication and care for Charlotte. We have no doubt that this is where she should be for her transplant. Dr. Timothy Olson is the head of our transplant, and he checks in on Charlotte's progress daily. The transplant process starts Sunday April 17. This will be the best birthday present for Laura whose birthday is April 18!