Good Evening,

“Sigh,” what a day.  Dean came home this weekend with a weird sort of cold/flu.  Yesterday he had enough strength to go to some of church and we also spent a couple hours at the Wild Animal Park, for our last visit before we move.  Today, however, he has been really really sick.  It has been hard on Sharmalia because she wants to spend time with her Daddy, but I am trying to keep her from getting sick. 

Sharmalia began the third phase of chemo, “Interim Maintenance”, on Wednesday.  This is a harder set of drugs then the last phase.  She will be getting the Methotrexate orally instead of in her spine.  The nice thing about this is that she doesn’t have to fast and have the spinal procedure every week, but the bad part is that it has more side effects, since it flows through her entire body.  She is also getting the steroid, “Dexamethasone” again for five days.  This is the drug that was responsible for the muscle atrophy, bloating, pain to touch, sleeplessness, crankiness, and general fatigue.  (It is a fun drug.)  It was amazing how quickly it effected her.  She has become much more emotional and has been clinging to me for days.  Yesterday I had to strap her to me in a sling just to get my make-up on.  Today she wouldn’t let me put her down at all until around 6:30 pm.   I was very grateful for the few brief minutes where I could get food out of the frig or go to the bathroom without holding her.  She felt so bad today that she didn’t want to watch TV and she actually asked to go up to “mommy’s bed,” three times. 

Speaking of bed, I desperately need some sleep also.  Good night. 

 Cheris