MY Charlize and her opportunity to live a wonderful life!

I'm praying for your little angel. Her courage and optimism have been an inspiration to me. I wish I could give her a great big hug.

I'm so happy she seems to be past the stomach issues. Or at least on the downhill side of that battle. Also that she's on the downhill side of the chemo battle. What an ordeal for such a tiny girl to go through. My heart breaks for her and her family. Daily prayers.

Yes, daily prayers here, too. My little SS class made cards again this week. I must get them in the mail. She is definitely a trooper.

Oh Jan thank you for the ones we recieved about 2 months ago. Your name was on the return address and I couldn't remember your DG name. THANK YOU TO YOUR CHILDREN!

You are quite welcome. My kids are quite something. Small in #s, but mighty in spirit. They love to sing and play instruments while marching. Our pianist who is 83 just loves coming to play for them. She is awesome.
I've also made a blanket for Charlize and for a dolly.
Could you dmail her address again. I promise - this time I'll put it where I'll remember it. or maybe not sigh

The news is getting better after a long time with me being angry with the male must fix or fight. LOL

Posted Apr 26, 2011 11:58am
We had a great weekend and are off to a good start this week! On Saturday Charlize’s counts were still very low, but she wanted so badly to get out, so she got all dressed up in her Easter dress and went to church for a special family event we had before our 3pm service. Leia brought the kids down late, so they were able to go in and sit down after everyone had already done so. Charlize had a great time watching Mark Thompson, a ventriloquist and comedian. She was engaged through the entire time and did not want to leave, but they had to leave out the side door ahead of everyone else to avoid the crowds. She wanted to say hi to everyone and see her friends, but she was not well enough to be around the crowds. Before they headed home, she did get to go out back and play in the field with some of her friends, which made the departure a bit easier.

On Sunday she had not vomited at all and was feeling good, so we went to have Easter dinner with our family. Everyone was healthy and did plenty of hand washing and sanitizing, and Charlize and Caedmon had a great time seeing all their family. It was nice to have a normal evening with our family and celebrate a holiday with them outside of the hospital. After spending every holiday thus far in the hospital or all day in the clinic, we were very happy to “normal” uninhibited celebration with everyone. We were able to bring all of her meds and TPN and Lipids with us, so we administered all of them and hooked her up away from home, to extend our night out as much as possible. As we were driving away, we said to Charlize, “That was pretty special, you got to see all of your favorite people tonight all in one place.” She responded “Yeah! I got to see my Family!” It brought tears to our eyes to hear the joy in her voice and to acknowledge her family as her favorite people; such a blessing for all of us.

Yesterday we woke up and de-accessed her at home again. That went very well, not even a single tear produced. We then made another trip to the community center for a swim. She had a great time and is getting quite brave in the water. She walks in on her own and does not want any help until she cannot touch anymore. She will push it until she is on her tippy toes and leaning out for me to catch her. She also plugged her nose and put her head under the water all on her own for the first time, without prompting.

Charlize also had her visit to the oncology clinic yesterday, but was not scheduled for chemo or any transfusions, so she made it a quick visit of only 2 hours. She got her routine checkup, re-accessed had labs drawn, turned in her stool sample and was out and on with the afternoon. Her counts all looked good and her ANC came back at 23,000. That number got her a week of freedom, and we are getting her back and healthy in time for chemo beginning this coming Saturday for our 5 day stay. We are looking forward to a good week with her feeling good and are hopeful that the vomiting and diarrhea will begin to clear up as well. Thank you for your love and prayers.

I have also uploaded some new photos from the past week – Enjoy!






This message was edited Apr 28, 2011 8:31 PM

This message was edited Apr 29, 2011 5:28 PM

That is great news!! What a beautiful child!! How much longer? She is a fighter for sure.

I just love the largest dandelion in the middle. Beautiful!!!! great news, Steve.
Family is the bestest thing since sliced bread.

Very good news to hear Sofer. Fantastic!

Your granddaughter and family have been an inspiration. All my best thoughts and good karma.

What a blessed Easter celebration. I'm so glad she is doing better. I know it's a long road.


























+

Sofer such happy news. Sending good thoughts your way.

" The news is getting better after a long time with me being angry with the male must fix or fight. LOL " It's not just the male wanting to fix things - mothers want to protect their children against all odds. So, it seems we're all in this together.

Thank You all! Now for the Sun to come out and the air to WARM!

Who can resist that smiling face --- the very picture of optimism!

Sweet pictures of a sweet girl with chutzpah. But better yet the news that she is coming through this.

Beautifully warm today. 66 here.

Chutzpah thats the word I shall use. My little "hoodspa" is her new name that Pa calls her. Thank you for the idea my friend. Perfect!

Love it!!!

Well my Charlize is approaching her last chemo. Her spirits have been wonderful. At least until somebody's PIT BULL attacked her. She was fortunately wearing a thick coat when the dog charged her playing on the grass outside her home. The dog took her down and started chewing off her jacket. My daughter unable to do anything prayed instantly and the dog jumped back and walked to the owner rushing to the scene. She has a bruise and hole where he bit her on the left chest, but fortunately there She has a CV catheter on the right and if that was taken out she would have rapidly bled to death. I felt great amount of anger to the owner and the dog when I heard but I suppose my Charlize is following in the footsteps of me. I too was attacked by a doberman as a young boy. That one I had to fight off myself (and some helpful angel). God is good! My Charlize is going to have a wonderfully exciting life.

Wow. Thank God she is okay!

I'm a firm believer in leash laws and this story only solidifies my stance.

God is sooooo good. glad she was wearing that heavy jacket. Exciting life indeed. Can't wait to hear the next installment, but without the danger.

I'd like to put a leash on that owner.

Thankful that the sweetie is Ok. She is going to be a strong girl in her long life journey. Thank God the chemo is almost over!! Celebrate life!!

She will need to get over the fear of dogs, and going outside now. Darn the idiot who lets her dogs (PITT BULLS) run free in a strange environment! How stupid is this self-centered idiot!

Totally stupid and selfish woman! Especially with small children living next door. There is no excuse for that.

This is the battle they are going through with her next challenge. Just one day in a long 7 months of their battle. Please pray to get her through this. God is Jehova the one who heals!
Gearing up for Battle!
Posted 1 day ago
This weekend has been quite eventful. Each day has brought challenges of their own including an ER visit for both Saturday and today. On Saturday evening Charlize spiked a high fever of 102.7 so we had to take her into the ER to get her checked out and make sure she did not have any sign of infection in her blood. We have been noticing that at times she also has been having rapid shallow breathing, and when they were in the ER she was experiencing it, and had a high respiratory rate. It regulated on its own and was back to normal by the time they were ready to go, but we do not have any good diagnosis as to why this would be happening along with all of the other acute symptoms. They ran blood cultures, and took a stool sample while they pumped her body full of IV antibiotics. We were in and out of the ER on Saturday within 4 hours. That was a quick visit, and we were so blessed that it was an empty night for he emergency floor. Today we ended up back in the ER because while Charlize was playing the tubing broke that is connected to Toothless. Let me explain why this is a big deal and abnormal. Toothless is the needle that accesses her port and enables us to give her hydration , meds, TPN and Lipids through her central line. Attached to Toothless is a small piece of tubing that is about 5 inches long and attached to the tubing is a clave that allows us to connect all of her flushes and IV lines for hydration TPN etc. Directly above the clave is a clamp that allows us to clamp the line so it keeps a constant backpressure on the line and blood does not back up into the line. When her tube broke the clamp and the clave came off with it, so there was not way to clamp it off, and there was freedom for germs to access her central line and therefore her blood stream. The way Leia noticed that it had broken was that she saw blood spots all over the couch. By God’s grace and sovereignty my cousin Bridget was at the house helping Leia out, allowing Leia to focus on getting this taken care of without having to worry about Caedmon. She tied off the remainder piece of tubing to stop the blood flow and then proceeded to de-access Charlize. There was no way to flush her port because the clave was no longer attached, so Leia had to go into the ER to get re-accessed and flush the port to treat the clotting that happens when blood pools in the port. They arrived at the ER and were blessed to have an IV therapist already there waiting for them. They were able to get her settled in and re-accessed with little difficulty. Once she was re-accessed they flushed her port with the TPA (anti-coagulant) and then we wait for an hour for it to do its work. After an hour they were able to pull back and suck all of the clots out of the port and they flushed her full of heparin and she was ready to go.They drew labs again and ran the cultures with everything coming back clean, showing that nothing migrated through the open line when it broke. This type of break is very unusual in a line, and the staff said that they have never seen a line break like this before. Truthfully, I am tied of hearing that kind of response; though it is good to be a pioneer in some things, this is not the arena that I want to pave the way in. Regardless we accept it and acknowledge it as an area for more focused prayer. Once again we were blessed with only a 3-4 hour ER visit, and while they were there the nurse order both Leia and Charlize dinner and one of Charlize’s favorite nurses came down to comfort her and snuggle with her. Though it was a hard and exhausting evening we were blessed in many ways during the visit.

The info I shared above was the update on our current situation, the rest is going to be more of an update of my heart.

As I left the parking lot of our condo complex this morning, I passed the site of Charlize’s attack from the Pit Bull. As I drove on, I began to pray and just talk to Jesus about the strain and fatigue of my heart and asked Him to give me strength for this day. Immediately after praying that, he reminded me of this passage in Daniel chapter 6:
“So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. Then King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all the earth: “May you prosper greatly! “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
When I recalled that verse, I saw again the replay of the attack. As if watching the movie of the event in slow motion, I could see the fierce determination and evil glaze in the dog’s eyes as it charged Charlize, and how quickly and with such force that she was pinned to the ground. Then the supernatural intervened and God seized the dog, shutting its mouth and shutting it down as the owner (a small Asian women) ripped the dog off of Charlize. As I relived that moment in my mind’s eye God spoke directly to my soul, and said so clearly “Just as I sent an angel to protect Daniel and I shut the mouths of the Lions, I also was there with Charlize and protected her as I shut the mouth of that dog and pushed it off of her.” I began to weep because I remembered the welt on her cheek from the impact of the dog’s nose on her face, but the impact stopped there. All of us know that a Pit Bull pronouncing that type of behavior and aggression does not stop on a dime and pull off of a child when it has it pinned to the ground face to face. This is undeniably God’s hand of protection and grace. The second thing that God spoke to me is that the enemy is hard pressed to destroy Charlize, seed fear in us and steal our joy, but again I heard him speak to me, “I love her and I will continue to protect her, keep abiding in me and I will in you.”
I felt led to share this tonight, because I feel I heard so clearly from the Lord for two reasons. The first was to bring peace and encouragement. The second was to bring about a greater intensity of pray amongst all those who pray for us and support us. The past 3 weeks have been increasingly difficult, culminating with the dog attack, a high fever, and a broken line. I know that you all pray fervently for Charlize and our family, but as we approach this last round of chemo, I am sensing a fierce battle at hand. For Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Thanks cannot be expressed in an appropriate measure for the prayer and support that you all have blessed Charlize and our family with. You have been an active agent in the movement of God’s hand on her behalf, for her healing, protection and well being. We love you all.
God took pretty good care of this baby so we might be all allowed to participate in an eternity with LOVE, ACCEPTANCE AND FORGIVENESS.

I am simply stunned! I am stunned by the audacity of anyone to allow such an animal to live, let alone be free to roam. And I am stunned by the power of Angels surrounding this child. I can certainly see why you feel as though Charlize is at the center of a great battle. I will spread the word among the prayerful friends I have asking for further support for this special child and her family.
Please tell me that the woman who owns this dog is going to be held accountable for its actions. I admit that I am fearful taking our dogs to the dog park because there are so many pitbulls there. Something in me simply cannot trust them, even though so far they have all been well behaved and I do realize that all dogs need to have socializing time.

I realize that small dogs like poodles are just as likely to bite (if not more so) than a pitbull, but it is just dumbfounding to me that anyone who keeps a pit bull as a pet would be so ignorant, irresponsible, and irrational as to let it walk about freely even if it usually had a nice temperament. I can't think of a single reason to justify that and in this case it makes me especially angry because I know how much Charlize has had to fight cancer and she doesn't need thoughtless people making it harder for her.

That story gave me a hard 'thump' in my chest. Crossing everything during this last round of chemo. Hugs, kisses and best wishes to you and your family.

Charlize and her whole family are the bravest people I know. I've never met them, but you know what I mean. Bless that sweet child.

As for pit bulls, I certainly do not trust them at all. Not one bit. My dog was attacked by one while we were walking down the street. Both dogs were leashed and as we passed each other, the pit bull lunged at my Koka and got her nose in his mouth and would not let go. He flung Koka back and forth in the air and the woman who owned him did nothing except scream. Many neighbors came to the rescue and he was finally pulled off of Koka, but I had to take her to the vet immediately because her snout was extremely swollen, and she also had puncture bites on her chest. The vet (Dove Lewis vet hosp - a very reputable and well respected place) said they do not allow pit bulls to wait in the waiting room but make them stay outside until they can put them in an exam room. We later found out that the pit had attacked and maimed several other dogs in the neighborhood, and it is now not allowed off of the property of the owner. I'm sure there are those that will defend these dogs, but I think their unpredictability and the nature of the way they bite, attack, and refuse to release their victim makes them dangerous. I don't know why anyone would want to own such an animal. And for those of you who want to tell me how wonderful they are, don't bother. Stories like what happened to Charlize make me angry, so very angry. What are people thinking?

This message was edited May 24, 2011 8:23 PM

I am here in Texas and am thankful for access to internet, though I am stunned by the latest news about dear charlize. Thank you for the privilege in sharing your heart, Steve, {{{HUGS}}} all around and prayers going up fervently for your sweet pea. Thankful for all God's provision for Charlize this weekend. Still very angry at the pitbull's owner. What are people thinkin, indeed, Portland?

Evidence-based medicine, evidence-based design, evidence-based dog behavior.

Sofer, I think of your family and Charlize often. She has had more than her fair share of "testing" and is still radiant in her photos. Amazing child.

I just can't imagine what more that sweet angel can be subjected to. This has brought me to tears. I have been attacked and bitten twice, both as a child, and it was very scary. She is going through so much I can hardly bear for her to have suffered a dog attack too. I am not scared of dogs and in fact am an animal lover so maybe she won't end up with a fear of dogs in the long run.
I will be praying even harder for her and your family for this last round of chemo.

She thrives and is going outside easily now. She looks both directions when leaving the alcove and most importantly yells "Back off!" She is going to survive and become a person of influence and great power with the Spirit of God living in her young and completly aware self. Thank you all.
This is a good shot I just downloaded of her.

This was taken just last week with her brother on the left cracking a much needed laugh. My daughters comments to her friends how they keep laughing.
What do you do to laugh?
Posted 2 days ago
I (Leia) just have read the last three posts myself from Brent. And on "A Day of Recovery James McClimans asked,"What do you do to laugh." I thought that was a great question. We laugh often actually, mostly at our Childrens silly antics with us and the hospital staff. But tonight we had a really good deep laugh. And it was a simple thing. Watching "Americas Funniest Home Videos" while we ate dinner at the Tree House. There were some really funny animal and kids videos that sent us laughing so loud that other people were coming in the dining area to see what was going on. It was a great fun and a healing laugh. The simple things in life like Animals and Children.
Also we find so much joy from all your responses to us and to eachother through this blog..God is using it for His Glory that is for sure. Thanks for all the amazing encouraging comments these last few days. I was teary eye reading all of them. They bring a joy to the soul which in turn allows us to laugh at life.
On another note....Charlize is still doing great. No vomiting! Praise God for this rest. Good night and God Bless you all...Leia

Laughter - the best medicine!

The end of Charlize chemo therapy is now! She received her last chemo wed. and we are all excited. My SIL comments below the thoughts of this event. I for one at a distance am thrilled. I so miss my Charlize.
It is very surreal to know that Charlize is finished with her chemotherapy treatments, and that she will not be getting any more poison pumped into her body. It has been all that we have known for the past six months. Our lives have been dictated by chemotherapy and its affects. To know that we are going to experience much different days ahead is very surreal. The emotional response that I though I would have at this point was very different then I imagined. When I arrived at the hospital after work on Wednesday afternoon, I did not know that Charlize had already received her last dose of her chemo; I thought it was scheduled for the evening. When I walked in the room and sat Caedmon on her bed, she looked up with her biggest smile and while bouncing on her knee’s exclaimed with excitement “Dad I am all done with chemo, I had my last chemo today, I AM ALL DONE!” I looked over at Leia with disbelief and we both began to tear up. I gave her a big hug and a soft little kiss on her head, and told her I loved her very much and that she was such a strong and brave little girl; “You did it babe, no more chemo.”

Another aspect of why things remain surreal is because I know and acknowledge that she is no longer getting chemo, but the affects of it are still devastating her body. She is still doing great with normal stools, and the vomiting is remaining at a only a few times a day, but she is also getting paler by the day, and the pain has began to set in. The worst part of this all for me is when she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming in pain, and there is nothing I can do to take it away. Mommy is the greatest medication at that moment; snuggles from mommy coupled with Ativan take away everything bad and awful. The TPN and Lipids are a constant reminder of her fragility and the fact that they are sustaining her function and life in a large degree. We still have another 6 months of rehabilitation of her GI system until it will be functioning normal again, but this week the doctors are going to be weighing in on all the options for how to start the rehab of her GI system and see how quickly we can begin to transition off of the TPN. We know that this transition will not happen for another 3 weeks, but I am looking forward to it with as much anticipation as I did to ending her chemotherapy. It is the Joy of what God has done and continues to show us that gives us the strength to endure and allow him to ripen the fruit of patience in our lives, as we move through this season. God is good and does good and we have been called according to his purpose, our only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given us. (Psalm 119:69; Romans 8:28; Acts 20:24)

Beautiful! I am so happy to hear that chemo therapy is over and done with. Let the healing time begin!

AMEN and AMEN'!!!!!!!

Great news that chemo is over and succcessful!! I sincerely wish that healing continues and that pain and difficulty recede.

Happy Birthday Charlize! 3 years old!
Posted 2 days ago
We are home! We went to bed last night with a grand plan for how we were going to celebrate Charlize’s Birthday in the hospital. We were excited for all that was planned and the opportunity to celebrate our little girl with everyone that has loved on her and cared for her at the hospital for the past 6 months. When we woke this morning we got unexpected by great news, that Charlize’s ANC went from 180 to 3500. The doctors want her to clear 1000 before they will discharge us, so this mornings report from her labs showed that we were on our way home. After readjusting our plans for the day, which is never easy to accomplish when you are exhausted and stressed, but we pushed on through the morning and had a great celebration. Leia took Charlize on a ride around the floor to see everyone and I stayed behind to decorate her room. When they made there way back, she was so surprised and excited to have her room decorated special for her big day. We partied so hard that she ended up going down for a nap 2 hours earlier then she has all week; and it was not even prompted. She just fell asleep while she was watching her movie. We left up the décor until we had everything packed up and ready to go. It was the last thing to come down. All of the nurses and staff made a card for her and the child life team got her a present. We had cupcakes for all of the nurses and staff and everyone had a great morning and a great celebration with Charlize.
We were able to get everything in order and get discharged by 3:30pm and made a quick stop at the park to meet Charlize’s best little girlfriend Sophie, and then headed down to the beach upon Charlize’s request. It was a beautiful sunny day and that is her favorite place to play in the sun. We made it home, had dinner, started the nightly meds and then began the bedtime procedure for both children and we are following suit after some time to decompress together with no interruptions.

The last two nights have been filled with consistent vomiting and no sleep, the diarrhea and pains also still remain persistent, so we will remain persistent in prayer. Today’s was a shorter post because I am frankly too tired to bring about anymore detail and expand on our day. In a sentence: It was a great Birthday, I can hardly believe my little girl is 3 and keep praying