Sophie's World

12:00 PM: I'm working at home today, and Randall took Sophie to the clinic this morning. Their appointment wasn't until 11:00, and he called just now to let me know that they are all done for the day. The drew blood and gave her vincristine by IV. They didn't expedite the results on the blood draw, so they'll call us later with the levels. We hope the red blood and platelet counts won't be critical, because that would mean a trip back. But she looks pretty good, so they'll probably be fine.

Today was Sophie's last clinic visit for this second phase of treatment (out of a total of five phases). Next Monday, the home health nurse will draw blood to see if she's ready to begin phase 3 (interim maintenance). We'll be shocked if her levels are high enough (ANC has to be at least .75). We'll be eager to see when she starts, because her treatment is supposed to end exactly two years after she bgeins phase 3. We figure she'll start sometime between 5/17 and 6/7, so that would mean all her treatments will be done by late May or early June 2007. It will be nice to have that fixed goal to look forward to. In the short term, the interim maintenance phase last 48 days and involves visits to the clinic every 10 days (Tuesdays and Fridays). On those days, she'll get vincristine and methotrexate in her IV. The dosage of the methotrexate will increase each week until she reaches toxicity (how that exhibits itself in her case is yet to be seen, and it's not something we're looking forward to!). There are a couple of times she has to go in two days in a row for spinal taps (to inject methotrexate) and peg shots.

My other good news for the day: My boss just called to let me know I've been promoted! It's effective May 1, and the salary increase will help balance out my take-home pay now that I've decided to work part-time under FMLA (also effective May 1). That certainly makes me feel more appreciated at work.