>???????? ????? ???????? Afternoon,

The house is quiet with two girls down for a nap.  I am taking advantage of the peace and quiet and eating left over chocolate cake from Sharmi’s birthday party.  We were finally able to celebrate Sharmalia’s third birthday this weekend.  We had a wonderful time withfamily, church friends and neighbors.  She was still coming off of last weeks steroids and since the craving of the month was egg noodles, we had egg noddles for the party.  If I would let her she would eat egg noodles 5 meals a day with no side dishes.  She tries to argue with any other food suggestions by stating, “I don’t want anything healthy.”  I guess there are worse things that she could be eating, but I don’t think it is a very balanced diet.  :) 

Last week her labs showed that her blood counts have come up.  Her ANC was up to 4000.  This is normal for a regular person, but this is too high for fighting leukemia.  With her counts this high the cancer has a chance of coming back.  The doctor didn’t adjust her chemo at the time, but we have to go back this Tuesday to see if her counts are still high.  If so, they will have to increase her doses of chemo.  I am praying that her counts will drop again so that we don’t have to put more chemicals into her little body.  I like the fact that she is on tiny doses. 

I also asked about the sore on her head.  The doctor said that it is caused by the chemo and it is common to last for months.  She also said that it is mildly contagious and so Chantel may get them as well.  Fun.

Lesson learned: I tried something new this week and I learned the hard way that it was a bad idea.  Sharmi has to take methotrexate orally one day a week.  She used to take it on Mondays, and it has slide down the week for a number of reasons.  She always feels awful the day after and I have been giving it to her on Thursday the last month.  However, it makes Friday’s really difficult for me and Sharmi.  So, I thought that I would move it to Friday night so that we would have the extra support of Dean on the bad day.  I think this would have been a good idea, but I didn’t take the steroid weeks into consideration.  So last week I gave her the methotrexate on Friday night, and she was already so worn out by the steroids that she had a miserable two days.  She had a very hard time even with the additional love and help of my parents.  Saturday was bad and Sunday morning was still really rough.  I was worried about how she would do at the party, but as my little social butterfly does, she rose to the occasion and had a wonderful time.  It is amazing to me how different she is.  I am sure she relies on her adrenalin to get through social times.  People will say, “She is doing great.  Look at her.”  I just shake my head in amazement and say, “You should have seen her two hours ago.”  She certainly knows how to rise to the occasion.

She is such a kick.  At the end of her party, my mom called me and said, “You have to see your daughter.”  So I looked over the back deck and she was running around in the grass in her pink party dress and her red lady bug rain boots.  It was certainly a site to behold.  We enjoyed the laugh.  I wish you all could have been here. 

We love you and miss you.   

It is a beautiful day in Poulsbo.  We have come over to my parents for Mother’s Day.  My Dad and Dean made us ladies a lovely brunch and now the kids are both down from a nap.  Sleeping babies is certainly a mothers gift.

Last weekend we went to Spokane for my alumni weekend and for some family time in Spokane.  The highlight for Sharmi was the carousel at Riverfront Park.  We took the girls on it three times.  Sharmi has been talking about it all week.  Sharmi rode on two horses and one tiger.  I rode with Chantel and she didn’t cry but she wrapped her arms around my arm as tight as she could.  She held on for dear life.  This was really fun for me too because I have many wonderful memories of Riverfront park with my family growing up, when I was a little girl.  Sharmi has heard me say, “when I was a little girl” so much that now she uses this phrase all of the time when she is telling stories.  It is soo cute. 

We are headed to the hospital again tomorrow.  She only gets vincristine and starts steroids.  This is must less stressful for me than the procedure days. One thing that I need to ask the doctor about is a sore on Sharmi’s head.  She has had a pimple like sore for on her forehead for over two months.  It is getting worse and she kicks and screams when Dean or I try to look at it.

This cancer has and will continue to effect Sharmi in many ways.  Some for better and some for worse.  One of the positives is how empathetic she is.  The last time we were at my parents, she overheard my mother and my grandmother talking about a doctors appointment for my grandma, Nana to her.  When I was putting her to bed she said, “Mommy, I have to go with Grandma tomorrow to take Nana to the doctors, because I need to hold her hand so she isn’t scared.”  Twenty minutes later when I was holding Chantel, and Sharmi was still fighting sleep she pipes up, “Mommy, it’s too bad that Nana has to go to the doctor.”  That same week after we went home, my mom called and said that she had hurt her ankle really bad.  Sharmi was worried and she said, “Mommy, we need to drive to Grandma’s and make sure her broken leg is OK.”  She has an empathy that many adults still don’t have.  I am so grateful that I can see some positives in this whole ordeal.

Well, I hope you mothers have a wonderful day.

Cheris

>mebelire all back at home safe and sound.  This week certainly turned out differently then we had planned.  Monday morning Sharmalia was jumping on her little bed with her friends and having a great time.  Around noon she came to me and said, “Mommy, I want my blankie and my binki.  I want to take a nap.” I thought this a little strange but she had had a very busy weekend so I thought she was just worn out.  She woke up from her nap an hour and a half later and I went to check on her.  She asked me to lay down with her.  I was surprised that she didn’t jump up and want to keep playing.  When she rolled over and cuddled up to me I realized that we were in trouble.  Her hands and her head were burning up.  We spent the next couple hours trying to get her fever to drop so that we wouldn’t have to take her to the hospital, but to no avail.  Finally I began packing us up.  I was running around gathering everything and praying and crying.  Even though Sharmi was not feeling good she was still worried more about me than her.  When Dean was holding her she said, “Daddy, take me to mommy so I can wipe her tears.”   Her temperature kept fluctuating between 101F and 103.9 F at home, but we thought we had her stabilized at about 102 F when we left.  I prayed for her with the group before we left the house, but when Dean carried Sharmi to the car she said that she wanted to pray.  She prayed for the herself and for the angels to keep her safe and for the doctors and nurses.  It melted her fathers heart. 

We were barely a mile down the freeway when she threw-up her all over herself and her car seat.  Our friend John was still at the house, so he rushed down with some basics to help clean her up.  I was hopeful that her fever would break after she threw-up.  However, while we were waiting for John we stripped Sharmi down and set her back in the car.  I reached in to check on the diapered little girl and she was boiling.  I yelled at Dean, “get her out of here!” (since it was cooler outside).  I grabbed the thermometer and it read 104.9 F.  The sudden change was very terrifying.  We kept praying. I thank God that by the time we were ready to go it was back down to 102 F.

At the ER she was initially doing fine.  She seemed perfectly normal, but then she crashed and slept on Dean for several hours.  They drew labs, gave her Tylenol, which didn’t have much effect on her fever, and they started her on very high doses of antibiotics.  When we were admitted to hospital we were betting that she had a UTI and a kidney infection.  We were told that a treatment for a kidney infection could keep us in the hospital for up to 2 weeks.  We obviously weren’t looking forward to this. However, the next morning her labs came back negative.  Her ANC however was at 10,000 so her body was clearly trying to fight something off. 

The next morning I brought a ton a things from home preparing to stay awhile, including birthday presents.  Her birthday was yesterday, but we celebrated Tuesday evening because her Grandma and Grandpa were both able to be with us.  By this time the drugs had done their job and Sharmi was feeling much better, so it was a wonderful party.  Even the hospital gave Sharmi generous gifts.   

Tuesday night Chantel woke up crying with a fever also.  I don’t know if it was perspective, exhaustion, or experience, but all I did was lay her down next to me, strip her down to a onesie, uncover her, I went back to sleep.  I woke up and felt her head several times during the night, but all seemed fine.  Since Chantel was sick she was not allowed in the hospital, so my wonderful dad went and helped Dean with Sharmi, and we were pleasantly surprised that they actually discharged Sharmi last night with just some high doses of antibiotics to take at home for the next week. 

Today everything seems to be going fairly well.  Everyone is tired and cranky, but all in all I am greatful that it wasn’t any worse. 

Thank you so much for those of you who were praying. 

Cheris