Good Evening,

Another month has gone buy and Sharmi is still doing well.  She had a doctors appointment last week and she is healthy.  She was brave and we went to “Chantel’s doctor” here in Marysville.  That makes for a much easier day.  When we got home the girls friends Jennifer and Logan were here with their new little puppy.  The puppy was the highlight of the day for my girls.  I have never seen Sharmi sit still so long in her life as she did when the puppy was on her lap.  If it weren’t for the potty training, chewed up shoes and having nothing but mud outside, I would consider two puppies for Christmas.  They are really cute babysitters. 

Our landscaping hit a glitch when our brand new concrete was torn out, so the girls and I are trecking through the mud and the rain to get to the car.  My dream of having the landscaping done by thanksgiving has been washed away with the rain.  The rain also took several yards of dirt and lots of hydroseed.  I miss the sun!  “We aren’t in San Diego anymore.”  Last week we had one really sunny day.  I thought, oh I am ready for spring, then my heart sank when I realized that the rain has only just begun. 

The girls are doing well.  Chantel is really enjoying puzzles, seek & find and counting right now.  She knows her numbers to ten plus, but counting usually goes, “one, three, five..”

Sharmi’s favorite game the last few weeks has been matching games.  She has a Dora game with 72 picture cards that you turn over and test your memory.  It is sad to say that Sharmi “smokes” both dean and I at this game.  Her memory is amazing!

I hope all is well with you and your loved ones.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Cheris

Hello Everyone, 

Several weeks ago we hit a milestone in our home.  After Chantels lovely birthday party, with lack of sleep and too much chocolate cake and chocolate “cream” as she calls it, she came down with a cold.  Later in the week I also gave into her cold for a few days.  Sharmi however did not get sick.  A week or so later Dean had some signs of the flue, and several guys working on a major landscaping project at our house were feeling sick including having the swine flue.  And even through all of this Sharmi still DID NOT GET SICK!  Hallelujah, Sharmi’s immunity is back and stronger than ours!!!!!

Last months doctors visit for Sharmi went well.  I bribed her into letting me take her to Chantels doctor, here in Marysville, instead of taking her all the way to Children’s.  We are now at the point in Sharmi’s treatment that her oncology doctors are OK with us going to Children’s every third month.  Sharmi prefers Children’s Hospital, but since the last couple draws didn’t go well there I was able to bribe her.  I promised that if she would go to Chantels doctor for her appointment, I would take them to Red Robin for lunch.  Chantel had a doctors appointment as well for her 2 year check-up and shots.  Then Sharmi had her exam.  Sharmi’’s lab draw went very well.  She was crying initially becauseshe was afraid, but the tech was good.  He was accurate and fast.  The tech’s were very impressed with how Sharmi handled it and held still for them, especially after her initial crying.  So as promised the girls and I went to Red Robin for Mac n Cheese and fry’s.  It was actually a lovely morning. 

As I mentioned earlier, we have taken on a huge landscaping project in the last month.  We have brought in tons of dirt, tore out our drive way, regraded our entire 1 acre yard, cut in a new driveway that is more aesthetic, made an actual walkway up to our house (which wasn’t there before), had 50 ton on rocks set in our landscaping, and we are putting on a new deck and new patio.  We are tired.  I specifically am tried of the filth.  But, the girls have loved it.  I believe the mountains of dirt were their favorite.  However, they did really enjoy the mud phase as well.  And today, they splashed in a giant 14 foot wide puddle filled with hazelnut color release used to color the concrete.      In between the constant loads of laundry, mopping and vacuuming the floors (sometimes many times a day) I am trying to stop and take pictures of my kids loving life.  For a few moments I can see it through their eyes, but it isn’t long after baths are taken and new cloths are donned that I am yelling again, “DON”T GET DIRTY!” 

They have loved the excitement but it is taking it’s toll on them as well.  They are not sleeping well.  Chantel especially is having sleeping problems.  She has discovered in  the last couple of weeks how to get out of her crib and out of her room.  Not only does she do this at bed time, but she also does it in the middle of the night.  I have tried everything I can possibly think of.  I have tried all of the nice, loving, patient mommy approaches and I have tried all of the harsh disciplinary mommy approaches.  None seem to work.  One night when I was trying the “middle of the road approach of just putting her back in her bed calmly”  I quit counting after 40 times.  I think I am making baby steps but if anyone has any wisdom I am open to suggestions.  

Another thing that was significant for Chantel, this past month, was her birthday party.  Sharmi has had so many parties for her the last few years and Chantel hadn’t had any other than her 1st birthday.  Chantelwas so excited about her party before it happened,  since then she looks at pictures of the party almost daily and any present that she got at her party she emphatically says, “mine, my paaarty!”  She makes it very clear what is hers.  It is actually quit cute. 

All in all life is good.  For a few weeks before the landscaping started life was actually bliss!  It was the “paradise” of being a mom with two healthy kids that I had never known before.  I had a glimpse of what a “normal” life is like.  I am looking forward to that again.  I am praying for sun so that they guys can get done and get out of here so we can have a wonderful holiday season with just our happy family.

Love to you all,

Cheris

Hello,

I can not believe how big the girls are getting.  Chantel is two years old now.  We are going to have a little belated birthday party for her this weekend.  Sharmi is growing like a weed.  I am buying her 5T and 6T clothes now.  She is only 4 & 1/2.  They say it is normal for kids to shoot up after they get off chemo.  She is definatly no exception.

Sharmi’s is overall doing well, but she is still suffering from the side effects of what her poor body has been through.  She is suffering pretty badly from a yeast infection right now.  Doctors don’t really take this seriously, but she is really uncomfortable so I am going to try to get her to a doctor tomorrow and demand Fluconazole for her.  I have read too much about a correlation between yeast and leukemia.  I don’t want to mess with it any longer.  I am going to be a self prescribing demanding mother.   

Other than that, everyone is healthy.  Last week however, I experienced the great discomfort/pain of a UTI.  I have a new found respect for those awful things.  Thank goodness for antibiotics.  I was up being mom the next day.  I did however, appreciate the help of my parents.  I didn’t stay in bed all day (I probably should have), but I was able to do my daily life & chores with less exhaustion.

Sharmi’s last hospital visit was challengingagain for her IV’s.  The first attempt, the tech dug and dug and dug for Sharmi’s vein and she never found it.  Poor sweet Sharmi.  Even though she was really hurting she was so polite.  She kept saying, “PLEASE stop, that hurts! PLEASE stop!  PLEASE don’t do that anymore… PLEASE… PLEASE.!”  Sharmi was incredibly polite while the tech was trying, but when she was done and didn’t get it, Sharmi lost it!  She cried and yelled, “I won’t let you do that again.  I am going home….”   I seriously considered walking out the door and telling them I would be back in a month.  I finally calmed Sharmi down and we had another tech do it and she found the vein immediately and the blood was drawn.  Her labs looked good they said she looked great.  The only other physical complaint Sharmi has is that she is itching, all over, all of the time.  The doctor said that is due to her nervous system recovering and rebuilding after all of the drugs.  It makes her ultra sensitive, as if she wasn’t already.  Tonight when I was putting Sharmi to bed she had her footie pj’s off, except for her arms due to the itching, she said, “I am an itching machine!”  That she was!  Poor girl. 

At the last doctors visit, I pulled up to the valet to unload the stuff and the girls and I hear Sharmi on her play phone, “Hello, yeah we are at the hospital.  Uh huh.  Yes.  No. No, I don’t have cancer anymore.   Uh, huh.  No, I don’t have cancer anymore…  I have got to go.  Bye.”  I couldn’t help but laugh, smile and thank God that she didn’t have cancer anymore. 

The bright spot of our day today is that we started gymnastics again.  The old owners have taken over the business again, so we were excited to return.  Sharmi has graduated to the big kid class, and I have started Chantel in the mom and tot class.  It was a very nice time and I hope it will keep the girls active during the winter months. 

Well, I think I am going to go to bed.  I hope all is well with you and your families.

Cheris

Hello Everyone,

This Summer has just flown by.  I have had a lot of fun with the girls.   However, unfortunately we are still haunted by Sharmi’s low immunity and she has been sick three times in the last two months.  The worst was about a month ago when she got “hand, foot and mouth disease” again.  She had a fever of 104 degrees and I could only get it down to 102 degrees with Tylenol.   High fevers are a sign of relapse so as sad as it is, I was glad when Chantel got  a low grade fever.  This gave me comfort in knowing that it wasn’t relapse.  Sharmi of course got it the worst.  She was sick for over a week, and had sores in her mouth and throat which made it difficult to eat.  Last week Sharmi also started coming down with another cold.  I gave her tons of grapefruit seed extract and lots of foot baths and we were able to keep it from getting full blown.  It still wiped her energy out for many days but we were grateful that it was minor. 

Last week she had another oncology check-up.  The last two times we have gone, the blood draw from her arm was painless.  This time however was awful.  Sharmi and I were both in tears before they finally got the blood drawn.  Two veins in her right arm burst when they were trying to do the draw.  This resulted in quite a show of battle wounds.  Sharmi cried, begged, and pleaded with me to take her home and to not make her do it again.  This is such a quick trigger for me, and I instantly have flashbacks of 2 & 1/2 years ago and the worst night of my life.  It is impossible to explain.  Usually people can close their eyes to help pull themselves together, but every time I would try to do that and “shake it off”  the vision would flash before my eyes again.  Finally, I was able to get Sharmi calmed down enough to allow us to put cream on her other arm.  They waited for about ten minutes and then were able to get the draw on third try.  The good news is that her lab reports looked great and she is a healthy little girl still!

One of the projects this summer, was two weeks ago when my parents came and helped me paint the kitchen, family room, and hall way.  It has been a dark brown and we brightened it up a lot with yellow and spice (It is prettier than it sounds   ) . The girls loved the painting, but they didn’t like the fact that grandma and grandpa were painting and not playing with them. 

Last week our very dear friends John and Yvonne, were here from California to visit us.  We had a great time.  We went and visited the Kangaroo Farm.  Yvonne loved kissing the lama’s.  Sharmi enjoyed that too, but she also had another experience that very few people can claim.  She was gently feeding a nice kangaroo and the mean kangaroo came up behind her and bit her on the back.  It bit her so hard it left two bruises from his upper and lower lips.  The poor girl was scared to death and cried and cried.   But she got over it quickly and she likes telling the story,  “I was feeding a kangaroo and FOR NO REASON AT ALL that other kangaroo came up and BIT ME ON THE BACK, FOR NO REASON AT ALL!!”   She is so animated!  Chantel likes telling the story too, ”bite, sharmi, mean,.. sharmi, bite,… sharmi, ok,…amal (animal) mean!”

Chantel is becoming quite the interesting little girl.  I love listening to her talk.  I was coloring with her today and she kept wanting me to move my hand so she said, “sue see, sue see, color, color” (translated to mean excuse me.)   I am also seeing more of her personality.  She is exactly like her mother.  Today she was lining up foam blocks.  She had several that were squares with holes in the middle.  She lined those up first and then she put the two squares without holes in them on the end.  I watched her carefully, and at three different times I handed her three more squares with holes and she would remove the two without holes, put the one with the hole next in line and then put the two without holes back again.  I waited until she was done and then I would hand her another one.  She did the entire process all over again.  She determined all on her own that this was how it was supposed to be done.  It was very cute.

Well I miss you all.  Good-night.

Cheris

>raman amplifier  I won’t even begin to try to explain how the last several weeks have been as a family. But the high level has still been full and busy.  One week after we returned from California our Washington Camp meeting started.  We took the girls down both Sabbathsand I also took the girls two additional days.  They both loved it.  Sharmi was very disappointed that she couldn’t go everyday to all of the meetings, but 4 days in one week without naps was more than enough. 

The downside of campmeeting was that Sharmi got sick from some little girls and then she shared it with her sister.  They have been sick for a week and a half. 

Yesterday we came over to Poulsbo to spend some time with my grandmother since my parents are out of town.  The funniest thing happened today.  Their Nana always has popsicles for the girls, but this morning Sharmi was not being nice and so I told her that she could not have popsicile.  I however, forgot to tell Nana.  Tonight when I was tucking Sharmi into bed she said, “Nana gave me a popsicle today.”  I said, “Oh you weren’t supposed to have one.”  She said, “I know.   Nana didn’t listen to me very well when I tried to tell her. I tried to tell her but she just got up and got  me one anyways.  She doesn’t listen to me very well.  She brought it, and so I just took it because I wanted it.”  The entire time she was telling me she had the biggest smile on her face.  And she was laughing, that “Nana doesn’t listen very well.”  The laughing was certainly worth her not getting her punishment.   

Next week is another hospital week.  Other than her cold she is going great.  We expect nothing but good reports.

I hope all is well you and your families.

Cheris

Good Evening,

The last 4 weeks have been a blur of planning, celebrating and medical appointments.   We flew back from San Diego on Sunday.  While on the plane my body must have decided that my stress was over, because I started sneezing and by Monday morning I was sick and totally wiped out.  I got some rest on Monday, and convinced my body that I was still on mommy duty, because I had to take Sharmi to the hospital the next day.  By Tuesday morning, the cold was gone but I was still really drained. 

Sharmi’s appointment went really well.  I took both of the girls, so Emalyn came with us to help entertain Chantel while I was busy with Sharmi.  She was a wonderful help.  It worked really well.   Sharmi was afraid of the new process.  She didn’t like having the numbing cream on her arm.  However, when I was identifying the best place for the draw I said, “here is a happy vein.”  Emalyn and Sharmi thought that was funny and they talked about Sharmi’s “happy veins”  all day.  Her happy vien and the numbing cream worked really well.  Sharmi didn’t even feel it.  She was very please about that.  Dr. Thompson said Sharmi’s labs were boring.  We like boring.   

The last month of celebrating has been wonderful.  The kids church in Marysville was perfect.  The theme was “Heaven is for Kids.”  We decorated the church with a ton of stuffed animals and we had a blanket and picnic basket with snacks on the stage.  All of the kids loved it.  My parents sang ”Heaven is for Kids”, dad told a story about being in Gods hands and he used fire as an illustration, there was a baby dedication, I told Sharmi’s story (without crying), Sharmi sat next to me on the stairs while I talked and she took care of her bear Mellow.  Sharmi sang a solo “Come and go with me to my Fathers house”, my Dad told a story about how angels are special to children and to Sharmi, my mom sang a song that she created for Sharmi about being a special angel from above.   And pastor Doug finished with a story about Daniels courage and emphasized that since Sharmi is in God’s hands the statistics of her ever being sick again are different then the standard medical statistics.  After church we had a wonderful potluck lunch at our house.  It was a perfect day!!

This last weekend in California was also a great celebration.  Sabbath morning when we left for church it was pouring down rain on the coast, but by the time of the party the weather was perfect.  It was wonderful to visit with our friends and family again.  Sharmi had a great time!  Chantel also really enjoyed it.  She just wandered around and watched everyone.  After it was over we asked her if she liked the party and she nodded, smiled and said, “party…cake…cake.”    The next morning when we were leaving the resort I thought I would sit down and finally rest for 2 minutes while everyone loaded up, but Dean came back in for something and saw me with a quarter of a cake and a fork.    He thought that was a good idea.  It wasn’t long before the kids found us and then there were 4 of us with 4 forks digging into a huge cake.  It was a funny sight.  The girls were skipping the cake and just eating the flowers and bees off the cake.  It is a great memory!

Well, laundry is still piled up from the trip.  I am hoping to get most of it done tonight. 

Thank you to all of you who came to celebrate with us.  It was an honor to have all of your love, support and prayers. 

Goodnight,

Cheris

Good Morning,

We are all excited about our trip to San Diego.  Sharmi has been asking me for weeks, ”how long will it be.”  And yesterday she saw her very special friend Jenny, who lives in Oregon.  She cried when we left her last night.  Now, since she knows Jenny is coming to San Diego with us Sharmi asks me every 5 minutes, “When are we going to San Diego and when do I get to see Jenny again?” 

If you havn’t RSVP’d yet you are still more than welcome to come, and we would love to see you.  Also, you were so incredibly thoughtful and generous with Sharmi when she got sick.  She has so many loving gifts from you which reminds us of the love and support she has.  For her party, we just want to spend time celebrating her life with you, please no gifts.

We love you all and we will see you soon.

Cheris

Good Evening,

Wow, this week flew by.  Just a few moments ago I was shocked to realize that tomorrow is Friday.  What a short week it has been.  I have a ton to do between now and when we leave for California. 

All in all Sharmi’s surgery Tuesday went really well.  We rushed to get there in the morning with no sleep and then we found out that they had miss-scheduled the doctor and her 7:30 am surgery was moved to 9:00 am.  In reality she was taken to surgery at 9:45.  That morning Sharmi went into her shutdown protective mode.  She talked as little as possible and just watched TV.  The surgery went well, but she was really cranky coming out from under the anesthesia.  Dean and mom took the brunt of her attitude.  I was able to get a big smile out of her when I gave her the little resin puppy she wanted, but then she just held him close and went back to watching TV. 

Sharmi was very pleased that there were so many of us there to support her.  My parents were there before the surgery and my aunt Tami and Carl and Trina, arrived immediately after she went into surgery.  Once we got her out of the hospital she started feeling better.  We had a wonderful afternoon.  We went to downtown Seattle.  She rode the Carousel, ate macaroni at Red Robin, had a strawberry ice cream cone (sister had huckleberry), and she rode the carousel again before we drove home and the kids crashed in the car.

At the end of the day, I was wipped out.  Carl and Trina once again bailed me out the last couple of days.  They helped me get the kids in bed, and Trina had Chantel all day yesterday so Sharmi could have some mommy time, and I could have a little rest.  Sharmi and I played magnets, cuddled, did markers, colored, I took a “nap” while she made me “breakfast”, we took a real nap together and we tickled.  I have noticed that just in the last two days she has laughed more.  She used to love to laugh.  It was like old times.  And today, when I was closing the blind before her nap, I saw the sparkle in her eye again.  The sparkle that the chemo killed years ago.  My baby is coming back! 

Yesterday I asked her, “How is your port doing?”  She replied, “My not-port is doing good.”  Her body has a “not-port” and “not-cancer”, and the scars are already beginning to fade.

Cheris

Good Evening,

This weekend was wonderful.  We had a great kids church on Sabbath, a wonderful time with family and friends and the weather was fabulous.  And to top off the weekend Dean and I got a much needed break and we went to dinner and the theatre last night with Carl and Trina.  When I have more time I will share more of the details, but I need to get to bed. 

Tomorrow morning we need to leave the house at 5:15 A.M with a 6:15 check in.  Sharmi’s p0rt removal surgery is scheduled for 7:30.  It should take about 1/2 hour.  It should be a pretty simple surgery.  They are just going to open her up, take out the port, pull the tube out of her heart and sew her back up.  Recovery will take about 2 hours.  Afterwards, if she feels up to it, we have promised her lunch at Red Robin. 

I am a little worried  about how tired she will be.  She didn’t get to sleep until after 9:30 tonight.  After we got back from dropping Chantel off at the Hall’s, we gave Sharmi a bath (since it will be a few days before she will be allowed a bath) and she ate a whole tray of food while I read her stories.  She has gotten pretty good at handling the days when she can’t have food, and since her surgery is so early she won’t get too hungry. 

Well I need to pack up her stuff and get to bed.  Keep Sharmi and her surgery in your prayers tomorrow.

Goodnight,

Cheris