We received a call from Cheris this afternoon, telling us that Sharmalia had a temperature of 104.7, and to please pray and post here on her blog asking all of you to pray for her also.  On the way to the hospital Sharmalia threw up twice, but is trying to stay in good spirits.  She has been praying for herself, for her doctors and everyone that will be taking care of her… so please do the same!

Hello,

Last week was a really long week and so far we are starting this one out tired as well.  Last Monday evening Sharmi was taking a bath and she had gotten out of the tub by herself.  Since she hadn’t washed yet I helped her get back in and told her not to get out of the tub by herself because she might get hurt.  I washed her up and went to her bedroom to get her cloths (immediately adjacent with Jack and Jill design).  I heard a thud and a wail.  Within the second that it took to get to her, the bridge of her nose was already swelling and turning purple.  She was crying and gasping and saying, “I want to breath, I want to breath.”  The swelling made her nose so uneven that I thought she had broken it which was impeding her air supply.  Luckily she just ended up with a black nose at the bridge, a three inch black line across her cheek and a red mark across the tip of her nose.  She was quite the site, but by bed time she seemed to be doing fine.  Her only problem was that she wanted to wash the marks off. 

That night Dean became sick with an intestinal thing, so we put him in isolation for the rest of the week and I became a single parent.  It was exhausting, but I was able to keep all of us girls well.  Sharmi did get a little bit of a fever one morning but it came down fairly quickly.

By Saturday Dean was doing better and we went up to visit Rick and Melissa for the day. It was a beautiful and warm day for a change.  We drove around the tulip fields and saw some of the early bloomers and Melissa navigated us to ”Cow Town”, a place where Sharmi and Chantel pet cows, bunnies, pigs, goats, and Sharmi chased the little tiny chicks.  Chantel had a great time with the goats.  She gets really excited and her arms and legs kick and kick.  We had a very lovely day.

Yesterday, was another hospital day.  I don’t usually tell Sharmi in advance because I don’t want her to worry.  So, in the morning when I told her we had to go to the hospital I got the usually response, “Mommy, I don’t want to go the the hospital,  I don’t want any medicine.”  This was the theme for the next hour as I tried to get out the door.  I told her that I didn’t want to go either and I was sorry that she kept having to do this.  I even agreed that it wasn’t fair.  However, what shocked me was the conversation that we had in the car.  She fought me as I put her into her car seat, and I continued to apologize, explain and insist.  She wasn’t settled by my answers and she kept asking “why”, so I told her directly for the first time.  I said, “Sweetheart, you have cancer, so we have to go to the hospital to get medicine.  You used to be really really really sick. I know that the medicine makes you feel yucky, but you have to keep taking it so you don’t get really really sick again.”  There was a long silence from the back seat, and then my little girl said, ”OK Mommy, I want to go to the hospital and get medicine.”  I was blown away.  She turns three the end of this month.  How does she get it.  Believe me it isn’t just because she is an obedient and compliant little girl.  She thinks disobeying is a art form.   Somehow she really did get it and for the next ten minutes she kept saying, ”Mommy, I want to go to the hospital and get medicine.”  She is my hero! 

Cheris

Happy Sabbath Everyone,

We got back late Wednesday night from a week long trip at the Bahama’s.  Sharmi can finally say it correctly now.  I am kind of sad about that.  It was so cute to listen to her say, ” I want to go to the Pamama’s to see Guya (her former nanny) and throw rocks into the ocean.”  Before we left she was able to say, “Pahama.”  And now she can say, “Mama, I want to go back the the Bahama’s!”  That’s my girl.

We did have a great time.  We are all tired, but it was wonderful to be in the sun.  We took a red eye flight to get there thinking that was better than having to get up at 2:00 in the morning.  But I only got 10 minutes of sleep and Sharmi only got about 2 and a half hours, so in retrospect I don’t think it was a very bright decision. 

Sharmi loved the beach and the pool.  We even made some new friends at the resort.  We sat next to a family at the pool for two days with a little boy named Quin.  It was very pleasant talking with them.  The people from Deans work were also very nice and we made several friends there as well.  I was particularly impressed and amazed and how gracious and personable the leadership was for Dean’s company.  It made it an incredible trip and we were humbled by everyone’s thoughtfulness.  Everyone seemed to know about Sharmi’s situation.  Even the maid kept our little mini-frig stocked with water, which typically would cost $4 a bottle. 

I think all of the sunshine and heat was good for Sharmi’s body.  She seems revived.  Dean and I had the privilege of swimming with the Dolphins with a group of his co-workers and it was so much fun.  We stayed one extra day after the “official trip” so we took the girls back to the dolphin experience.  I wished Sharmi could have swam with them but we were told that the dolphins would throw her around like a toy since she is so little.  The “dolphin experience” group was pretty big so we were only able to be in the water petting them for a few minutes.  We all got dolphin kisses.  I was surprised at how excited Chantel was about the dolphin.  She kept touching the dolphin and leaning over as hard as she could.  I finally let her lean down and she wrapped her arms around the dophin and kissed her.  It was soooo cute.  Sharmi was sad when it ended and she cried when we had to get out.  I hope she will be able to experience it again soon.  It is my understanding that she will be able to do a “Make a Wish” when she turns three, so I think we will try to do something with the dolphins where she can spend more time with them. 

Shami’s treatment seems to be going fine. She had a hospital day 8 days before we left and she got “them all” that day.  She got the chemo in her heart and in her spine, and we started her on her monthly series of steroids.  Her anc blood counts were at about 1800 (I think).  This a higher than they typically want her to be, but since we were going on our trip they weren’t going to mess around with her doses.  But when we go back this month they will probably increase her chemo. 

Chantel is growing big.  She is very interested in the world now, but she is still happy to simply observe it or eat it. :)  She is sitting quite well and can play with her toys for quite a while on the floor.  However, she still has very little interest in rolling, and since she hates her tummy time I don’t think she will be crawling any time soon. 

The one other exciting thing that happened to our Family is that my brother Chris and his wife Julie had their baby boy on the 24th of March.  His name is Roegan.  It will be wonderful having a baby boy in the family.

That is the update from the curry’s. I hope everything is good with you and your loved ones.

Cheris