I hope everyone had a wonderful Sabbath,

We had a great one because we are finally home.  Sharmi was discharged yesterday afternoon.  Thursday was the turning point.  In the morning when I got there I looked at her infection and it was significantly worse then it was the night before.  I told friends and family that by the progress of the infection it looked like we would be there through the weekend.  But I am thankful that God was hearing our prayers and had a plan.  That morning my mom was walking through her grocery store and a 20 inch aloe vera leaf “jumped out” at her, and so she bought it thinking that it would help Sharmi.  Then my mom’s music lessons kept canceling resulting in it opening up enough time for her to come over to the hospital.  She felt like God was telling her that Sharmi needed the aloe that night.  Around 8:00 pm, when visiting hours were over, the room started filling up with people who loved her.  First mom with aloe, then Carl and Trina and Chantel with red algae capsule and toys, and then my dad.  It was a party!  

Thursday afternoon I started to see a slight improvement in her skin, it looked a little less raw.  But the real improvement started when we rubbed the first aloe on it.  It was amazing.  It began to heal so fast that you could almost see it change.  Within an hour the red infection was much better and the surrounding skin looked pink and healthy like it was bringing in blood to help heal.  We also gave Sharmi a dose of red algae which Carls family uses for shingles.  It took us two attempts to find the right carrier for the stuff, but we finally got it down.  By the time everyone left two hours later I was very optimistic that we were going to go home the next day.

At rounds, after looking at Sharmi’s improvement, the attending doctor gave us the option of staying one more day or going home.  She was leaning toward us staying because she stated that she had seen a lot of zoster (herpes zoster aka varicella or shingles), but not like hers.  She said that Sharmi’s was a very bad and aggressive case with so much fast growth even on the antifungal medication.  She warned me that if it got worse at all we were back in the hospital for at-least 3 more days.  I felt like God had given us the plan of care for her so I decided to bring her home.  We have continued to use the aloe and give her the red algae in addition to the oral anti-fungal medication.  Today her infection is almost gone on her arm.  Her hand still has some big sores but I am confident that they will heal soon. 

Today was a day to just spend some time at home healing and resting with the girls.  Shami has bounced back so quickly.  You would never know that she was in the hospital 4 days last week and that she has been fighting off infections for 6 weeks now.  She is amazing.  I am so gratefull that God made her a tough fighter (most of the time  

Chantel had a great time being a big girl and experiencing the world while we were in the hospital.  Her verbal and sign language communication has really taken off in the last couple to weeks.  It is so fun to watch her blossom. 

Good night to you all.  Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Cheris