Sophie's World

8:30 PM: It's been a long and exhausting day. Sophie went to treatment a week early today (we'll be in Disney World next week), and she wasn't due for a spinal tap, so we got to go a little later than normal. We got checked in, and I had a fairly long list of questions to review with the nurse pracitioner during her exam. Top of the list were to discuss the cough she's had for the last 3 or 4 weeks (has gotten worse lately), and she's been complaining of headaches and tummy aches fairly frequently (even before the cold started). When the nurse practitioner listened to her chest, she heard "crackling" sounds in her lungs, so she decided to do a chest x-ray. When she checked Sophie's ears, she found an ear infection, and she suspected that the head pain might be due to a sinus infection. They also did an abdominal x-ray to check for a possible bowel obstruction.

However, because the headaches started before the cold, they defnitely wanted to do a CT scan and want to check her spinal fluid, because that's one possible sign of relapse (needless to say, that's a scary prospect). Because Sophie had breakfast before we left, they couldn't do sedation for the spinal tap, so she has been scheduled to take care of that under sedation on Friday morning. The doctor says he's checking so quickly because he wants to rule out the possibility of relapse so we won't be worried during our trip, but of course the urgency of this feels scary to us. She was able to get all her scans and x-rays today though. Sophie was pretty scared about getting the IV in her hand (two attempts this time), and was really frightened about the CT scan, but ultimately, she held very still and handled everything really well. She cried and shook and sweated, but she's an amazingly brave girl. We always tell her it's okay to be scared, and to cry, and to make any noises or have any feeling she wants, but she just has to be still (which she does).

The chest x-ray showed that she has pneumonia, and the abdominal x-ray shows a fair amount of constipation (although she had some "movement" last night, if you know what I mean!). The results of the CT scan weren't in before we left, but they decided it would be safest to assume she has a sinus infection.

So, in addition to getting chemo (vincristine) today, she got a dose of IV antibiotics (ceftriaxone), and we came home with a fistful of prescriptions. She'll be on zithromax for the infections; she'll take nexium for stomach pain and has a new prescription for zofran if she's nauseated; plus we got refills on a few other things.

I don't think we'll know anything new until we hear the results of the procedure on Friday. If the spinal fluid looks clearm, that will be a big relief. Until then, we just have to wait and try not to worry.