Sophie's World

1:45 PM (Central time): Quick update on Sophie, who had her bimonthly oncology checkup yesterday. She is doing fantastic! Her counts were all good and the doctor says her reflexes are sluggish but coming back. We're also apparently doing a better job of keeping her seasonal allergies under control. Whatever count indicates a histamine reaction was lower than normal. She did great during the blood draw and didn't even take her blanket inside the office (she did want to sit in my lap though). After her afternoon appointment was over, we did a little shopping and had dinner in Lubbock. Sophie was pretty wiped out and got tired of shopping pretty quickly.

Here's a little story I was amazed by. We were shopping at Walmart the other day, and Sophie saw a guy who was having trouble walking--his legs were shockingly thin and he could barely get around. Sophie asked what was wrong with him pretty loudly, so I kind of pulled her aside and told her it's okay to be curious about other people, but that we shouldn't ask what's wrong with them in a way that would make them feel bad. I asked her to remember how she felt when she lost all of her hair and people would look at her funny or ask questions. Here's the thing--she doesn't remember when she lost her hair! She has already forgotten all of the most traumatic early parts of her treatment. We came home and I showed her pictures from when she lost her hair and gained so much weight on the steroids. She doesnt remember any of it! She says she remembers when we had to have the chest catheter removed and she had to deal with the PICC line, but the early stuff is all gone. She was only 3 at the time (half of her lifetime ago!), so I guess it's not that surprising, but it's amazing to me that these memories aren't just fading over time--they're just gone.

The girls are both home today. Their summer day camp ended on Friday, so now they're home with us until school starts on the 25th. At the moment, they are playing together nicely with two fisher-price dollhouses we received as gifts a while back.

Next week, we play to take a "staycation"--we will take a week off but won't travel anywhere. We will spend time together at home doing nothing in particular and taking day trips to nearby places. We know we're going to spend one night in Lubbock because Elisabeth is having braces put on next week. We are also thinking one day will be devoted entirely to reading books! Now if only Randall and I can get enough work done this week to feel okay about taking time off this week!