I wanted to come and thank all of you for all of the love and support you have shown my family while my little boy, Charlie, has been in the hospital. I have been completely overwhelmed by the generosity shown by this community as we received the care packages of snacks, toiletries, toys and activities for my older daughter, and the gift card. I feel like I cannot adequately express how much those things and your kind messages have meant to me, so thank you, thank you everyone! I am so glad I am able to be a part of this community and hope that I can one day pass on your kindness to others in need.

I also wanted to give a short update on Charlie. He had his tracheostomy and Broviac placement yesterday and is doing really well post-op. His endocarditis appears to be under control, but the infection will continue to be treated for at least 3 more weeks with IV antibiotics. He is getting a lot of the excess fluid he had gained off through his dialysis and slowly working his way back to the automated dialysis cycler. While it will be a while before they can take down his ostomy and place a G-tube due to his continued (and likely long term) need for peritoneal dialysis, he is up to his full goal feeds via an NG tube and handling that well. He will still need to be at the hospital for several more weeks as he is transitioned to the equipment we can go home with, but I finally feel like we are making progress towards getting him home.