Thursday (2/10/05)
Sophie has had a good day in the hospital today. She's been in a great mood, and has been very playful with the staff and with her visitors. Her blood counts are getting better, although she's still neutropenic (at risk of infection because of low white blood cell counts). Everything is moving in the right direction, and there's no indication yet of any bacterial infection (they continue to watch the blood cultures). She did have another high temperature today (101.7), but it went down with tylenol, and as of 8:15 this evening, it was back to normal. Sophie had a bath tonight (which she tolerated pretty well), and they changed the dressing on her catheter (which she tolerated less well).
We haven't had a chance to talk to the doctor about whether the fever she had today will affect when she goes home, but this morning, the doctor said that as long as nothing shows up in the cultures and all her vital signs look good, she should be clear to go home tomorrow. If any of the cultures are positive (indicating a bacterial infection), they would start a new course of antibiotics, and she might have to stay until Tuesday (after she gets her next round of chemo). Susan is staying with Sophie in the hospital tonight, and everyone's looking forward to a good night's sleep.