Sophie's World

8:30 PM We have a good report to post tonight. Sophie's clinic visit went very, very well. We tried very hard last night to prepare her for what would happen and assure her that Susan would never let anything bad happen to her and although it might be scary, we know that she (Sophie) can be very brave. Well, that must have worked. Everyone commented on how well Sophie went into the treatment room (they know what she is normally like). Susan was very relieved, I'm sure. Sophie's counts remain strong. In fact, they are bumping up her dosage just a little bit (they had cut it back because her counts had dropped too low). Sophie has been cheerful and happy all day today, although she was not at all happy about taking her medicine this evening.

The doctor was somewhat concerned that Sophie seemed to be developing an allergy to the dressing (once again). In fact, he said that when they prepped her for the spinal tap with the betadine, her skin seemed to react even to that. He prescribed Zyrtec to keep the allergic reactions down a little bit, which is pretty funny, actually, because our friend Madi is also taking Zyrtec, which we found out this past weekend. Susan got to see some familiar faces at the clinic, and, as always, there were new faces there as well.

Which brings me to the downer for tonight's post. We know of a young boy named Diego who is undergoing treatment at UNC. Diego is five years old and recently had a recurrence of the cancer that brought him to UNC in the first place. It sounds as if St. Jude Children's Hospital might be able to help him, but his situation is very tenuous. Our hearts go out to Diego and especially his family. We will forever be touched by the stories of children and their families who struggle through childhood cancer.