Sophie's World

8:30 PM: What a day--for all of us. Sophie and I got up fairly early this morning (although not as early as we usually have to) and headed in to Chapel Hill. The anesthesiologists were very late starting today, and Sophie was fifth in line. As always, we weren't certain how she was going to react to going into the treatment room. We started by giving her ativan a half hour before it was her turn. That seemed to affect her a little bit, but when I saw the child before her come out, I told her it was almost time, and she really cried hard ("I don't want a shot!"). Because they didn't want to administer the drug that knocks her totally out while she was out in the hallway without being able to monitor her vital signs (and because bringing her into the room where they could monitor her caused extreme agitation), they gave her a sedative called versed. Then she got really loopy and limp. She seemed fine and calm, so I carried her into the treatment room. As we passed through the doorway, she once again became very agitated and wouldn't let anyone but me touch her. They gave her another dose of versed (after which she was nearly asleep) and then administered the propofol that knocks her totally out.

Last time she had that much sedation, it took her a long time to wake up in the recovery room. This time, she was already awake when they brought her in to me (and she wasn't happy). Unfortunately, these medicines cause amnesia, which is normally good, but what it meant in our case was that she had no idea that she had been in the treatment room and that the procedure was over. She thought the shots were still coming, so she repeated over and over that she didn't want a shot. I kept saying they already did it and there would be no more shots today. She would look at me and slur, "They already did it? No more shots today?" and then moments later complain about the shots again. She also kept asking "Why am I so dizzy?" and started singing Ring Around the Rosie. Eventually she got back to normal. Once they gave her the other chemo (vincristine), we were ready to go. We left at around 12:45 and stopped by my work to say hi to folks there. They hadn't seen her in a while.

Sophie fell asleep on the way home (at about 1:45) and slept soundly all the way home. She fussed a little bit when I moved her to our bed but continued napping until nearly 4:30. I asked Patty from church to come stay with her while I took Elisabeth to dance class. When I got home, I sorted through all the medicine I picked up for her today and gave her the mercaptopurine and dexamethasone (and her normal septra), and I updated the spreadsheet we use to track which medicines we're giving her each week.

The girls enjoyed playing together before bed, and Randall got home not long ago (he's pretty wiped out from the drive and classes all day). I think we'll all sleep well tonight.