Sophie's World

11:30 AM: Dr. Gold (her attending physician) stopped by and said they plan to send us home tomorrow. I suggested that afternoon would be best so that Randall has time to get here and help us load up after the church service. I can probably handle it myself if he can't make it though. The doctor will confirm a time with home health, so they can have a nurse meet with us and show us how to do the IV antibiotics at home. The only thing that would change this plan is if her ANC goes down tomorrow (which no one is expecting).

I also asked him about what Dr. Weston had mentioned regarding taking the line out. He said there's no need to consider that at this point. The staph infection, as line infections go, is a relatively minor one, and he doesn't expect her to continue getting more infections. He has seen very clearly how she behaves when a needle comes anywhere near her when she's conscious, so he said he would put a new central line in before he would consider doing peripheral IVs with her. I told him I worried about how we would manage it when treatment is over and she has to get monthly blood tests. He said by then, she'll be a year older and would be able to handle it better. They definitely wouldn't want to keep the line in for that year of follow-up, because the risk of infection at that point would be much higher. Anyhow, that's over a year away, and we have more important things to deal with before then!

One bright spot this weekend is that a friend of ours, T'yanna, is here on the third floor for some tests. T'yanna takes a dance class with Elisabeth, and her sister Madi is in a class with Sophie, so our families see each other two nights a week. She was treated for Ewing's sarcoma back in 2004 but has been having some pain recently, and her mom is, of course, quite worried. I hate that any of us are in the hospital, but it sure is nice that we moms are here together so we can support each other. I'm also really enjoying spending time with her (quite large) family--real friendly folks.