Hello Everyone,

Happy Labor Day.  I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

I figured I better get another update done before I end up in the hospital.  So far sister is holding in there.  The doctor told me on Friday that I had a 50 % chance of delivering this week (due date is the 12th).  Friday night I had contractions and woke up to discover that the baby had dropped, so we are on alert.  Anytime now will be just fine.  The big thing was to get through these past two weeks with Sharmi, and I am thankful to God that we made it.

Sharmi is doing really well right now.  However, as projected she did have to have a transfusion last week.  Her hematocrit was down to 19 on Wednesday so they did a transfusion on Thursday.  Even though it makes me nervous it was clearly the right thing.  She has been quite pale for weeks, but her complecion  and affect changed significantly from Wednesday to Thursday.  Even her little lips were as white as could be.  The infusion took a full 4 hours and she sat on my lap (the small amount that I have left) for the majority of that time.  She gave me a little bit of a break and sat on Grandma’s lap and gave medicine to Mellow for about 20 minutes.  Needless to say my already tired legs were really hurting by the end of the day.  Grandma and Papa were both there to help her feel loved and supported.  It makes a big difference in her happiness.  The transfusion has also helped with her energy and she has been enjoying life more.  However, even though her energy is better her immunity is still very low.  As of Wednesday her ANC was approximately 470.  Since she is still on Chemo I am sure this number has dropped and as you know this makes us house-bound again.  We did break the rule a little bit yesterday though by taking her to the fair.  The hospital here says that outside is always OK, but I don’t think that is exactly what they meant.  However, we all miss the Wild Animal Park, Zoo and Sea World and we were anxious to see some animals, so we took the risk and spent hours looking at dogs, sheep, goats, cows, birds (there were some incredible pheasants) and bunnies, bunnies and more bunnies.  She had a great time. 

Last Thursday they also de-accessed her port again.  This was a huge deal.  As I mentioned earlier, she is scared of the port and it was a battle to uncover it when she had worn her little t-shirts for enough days.    The poor thing.  I can’t imagine how scary it is for her.  All in all she has developed some amazing coping skills.  She plays with mellow for hours; cleans her, checks her blood, gives her medicine, talks her through the pain, procedures and blood pressure checks, holds her hands, hugs her tight and the one that kills me is “sweety I am so sorry, I am so sorry.”  She has heard me say that a thousand times. 

Last Friday, after her bath, I was talking on the phone.  She came into the bathroom completely naked with a ceramic angel that usually sits on her window ledge.  She was holding the angel up to her port and was showing me that the angel was kissing it better.  It of course brought tears to my eyes.  I am so grateful that angels are important to her and that she finds comfort in them.  I have prayed many times when she is going through particularly hard or painful experiences that she will be able to see them around her and protecting her.  I will probably have to wait until heaven to really know the experiences and comfort that she has received from her host of angels.  Despite her daddy and I doing the best that we can, I am so grateful for the higher powers. 

Tomorrow will be another full day at our house.  All of my family is coming to our house for a BBQ because we were afraid to get to far from a hospital.  Traditionally this weekend is also a birthday party for my grandma, father and brother.  Sharmi loves cake and singing happy birthday.  She will have a great day.

I hope you all have a wonderful day as well.

Cheris