Good evening,

We are thanking God that we have made it through the first wave of this phase.  Sharmalia took her last dose of steroids today for awhile and she is starting a week of break to let her body recover a little bit before they slam her again.  Today was another hospital day, and in comparison to many it was an easy day.  We just went in to get her labs done and talk with the doctor.   We were surprised to learn that her ANC is still at 100.  The steroids usually cause these numbers to go up. 

In these last couple of days she has been eating better.  She is still finicky and doesn’t eat her fruits and vegetables like usual, but at least she is eating.  (Her very balanced diet for this session of steroids is tortilla’s, tender bits and swiss steak.)  Despite her eating better she hasn’t been feeling well.  Yesterday she was a handful.  She whined all day long and there was nothing we could do to satisfy her.  (I could not for the life of me tear the tortillas into the right size.  Nor could I put them in the right place on the plate.) The problem is that she is so miserable that she doesn’t know what she wants.  Luckily my mother was here yesterday to help deal with the demands, but by the end of the day we were both drained.  Mom has obviously been helping a lot through these last several months and has seen her bad days, but in reference to her attitude yesterday she said “I didn’t recognize that little girl.”  It is a good thing that I didn’t start out as an impatient person, however, God is still teaching me the gift of patience (most days). 

Today she was  very lethargic.  There is a place near the hospital that has birds and statues of cows and turtles where we grabbed lunch today.  Just two weeks ago she was chasing the birds and hugging the statues.  Today she didn’t even notice the birds.  She didn’t get off of my lap once and it was even rare for her to lift her head off of my chest.  She was just wiped out.  We are hoping she recovers quickly so that we can start the next part of this phase.  Her ANC has to be up to 1000 before they begin.  I of course wish I could never give her another drug again, but since I don’t have that choice we would like to start her as soon as possible so that she has some time to recover before baby sister is born (she still doesn’t have a name   )  With her ANC as low as it is it doesn’t look good for a start date of next week, but we will just have to pray and wait and see.  I am too tired to worry, so I am just having to trust God to do everything in his time. 

Love to you all.  Good night.

Cheris