Sophie's World

12:53 PM We had a very full weekend, which is why we haven't gotten around to posting since before the weekend. Sophie and I are having a (mostly) restful day at home today. Susan is at work and Elisabeth is at school (believe it or not). My primary task today is to get us prepared to leave for New Mexico tomorrow morning, although that task involves lots of little odds and ends that need to be done.

Here's a brief recap of our weekend. Sophie had a great birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. This was the first time that we paid to have the party at Chuck's (typically, we just go and commandeer a booth, order a pizza, spring for some tokens, and we're done). I'm still not entirely sure that this was the best financial decision, but it was nice having a "host" to help us with all that needed to be done--she even cut the cake for us! Sophie was not in to getting her picture taken with Chuck, either, so that wasn't a big deal. Nearly everyone we invited was able to come, although we missed a couple of folks. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Sophie finally got the hang of the climbing structure (I call it a HabitTrail, like those they used to have for hamsters or gerbils), but it took a while. At one point, I could her Sophie complaining loudly from the top of the slide, with a good five or six other children behind her encouraging her to just go down the slide. I called to her and that seemed to do the trick. She came down with a huge smile on her face and immediately said, "I want to do that again!" It was great getting to Chuck E. Cheese's first thing in the morning, because it was not as hectic as it can be.

Sunday was fairly typical--church and Sunday School, although we went over to our friends Bob and Patti's afterwards for hamburgers and hot dogs. The girls love spending time over there, so that was nice. I had confirmation class Sunday evening, so Susan stayed home with the girls while I did that--unfortunately, Susan seems to be coming down with something (or perhaps it's allergies)--and Sophie got sick while I was gone. Apparently, she threw up several times and was quite miserable. She had complained about a "head-ick" (headache) all afternoon, but then she said she felt better. Susan gave Sophie a bath and some anti-nausea (Zofran), and by the time I got home things seemed calmer. Susan and the doctors (of course, we called the doctors--anything more serious than a hangnail requires a call to the doctor) thought maybe Sophie got overheated and/or dehydrated playing outside. It's been very hot this weekend, so that may be the case.

Before I forget, a quick update on our Home Health visit last week. The antibiotic levels were fine, so we're nearly done with that. Sophie's ANC (the measure of her immune system) was quite low, 0.7. For the time being, we're cutting back her chemotherapy to 50% to keep her from dropping any further (especially since we're traveling this week). Sophie has a clinic visit scheduled June 7th, so we'll get another check then. When I was on the phone with the Nurse Practitioner from the clinic, we reviewed our options for care in New Mexico, provided Sophie might need something while we're out there. We both agreed that short of a life-or-death emergency, we would take Sophie to the University of New Mexico hospital in Albuquerque. That is the only Children's Oncology Group hospital in the state, and hopefully, they would know how to handle Sophie's situation better than any other hospital. Of course, we are hoping and praying that we won't need to make a visit to UNM, but at least we have a plan.

We're all looking forward to getting away for a couple of days at least. I'm looking forward to seeing friends in the church from Annual Conference (and getting commissioned, of course). Most of all, it'll be nice to have "family time" together with no other pressures or constraints other than traveling!