Hello,

This past weekend reminded us how fragile our little girl still is. We were supposed to have a great weekend of play with our friends, but Saturday morning when we were rushing to get ready to go to Sea World Sharmalia slipped and fell getting out of the tub. She cried uncontrollably, for what seemed to be an endless amount of time, which was not like her. She had hurt her left leg to the point that she could not walk, stand or crawl on it. We took her to Sea World anyways hoping that she would enjoy the animals, but she found very little joy in the day. At the very beginning of the Shamu show she began saying, “All done, whale. Home.” She also didn’t do her usual clapping and dancing to the music.ÂI can’t tell you how horrible it is to see your two year old depressed. My heart wasn’t very light that day either. We were uncertain as to how long this set back would be.

Sunday was another hard day. She did better at being held by others beside mom, which was helpful in getting some things done with Dean. John and Julie watched her for several hours but also stated that they had to hold her constantly.

Yesterday morning brought relief to me when Sharmi woke up happy. She was smiling and laughing again. She had slept until 8:00 which is unheard of for her, but the extra sleep seemed to really help her body and spirit heal. She still was not able to walk yesterday, but she was able to take a few weight baring steps with help. However, the one thing that did surprise me was when I put her down for a nap and after a few minutes I heard her calling me from the top of the stairs. This is no small feat since our bed where she was resting is very tall and hard to get down from. It was good to see that she still had determination.

This morning she woke up cranky, but has regained more strength. She had PT with Tammy and Sharmalia did very well once she woke up.   She had fallen asleep on the way there and it took the combined effort of Julie, Tammy, musical toys and myself to wake her up. We were pleased to see her walking around and playing with toys, but did notice swelling in the back of the left knee that we hadn’t seen before. Both the physical therapist and her Sharp orthopedist have recommended an x-ray. Tomorrow is the beginning of the next phase of chemo, so we may get an x-ray of her knee while we are at the hospital. We’ll keep you posted.

Cheris