First week- Jeannie

Day 1: Worst part was dropping her off in the room and kissing her goodbye. The nurse said it would get easier, but I didn't believe her. What part gets easier? Seeing Sophie lose weight and be so skinny I can feel her vertebrae? Having to carry her around because her walking has become so unstable? The endless noisy waiting rooms for ophthalmology, hearing, oncology, neurology, rehab appointments? I expected to be in the waiting room for 3-4 hours at least, but surprisingly the first day lasted only 2.5 hours. She usually comes out of anesthesia pretty agitated but not this day. She was very tired all day and after an hour of rehab, we stayed home. A family friend brought dinner over and Sophie asked about her daughters and wanted to know silly details about them. Then, about 2 hours later at 6 PM, she started exhibiting symptoms similar to the time right before we found about the tumor in December. Her head tilted all the way to the right, eyes not able to focus, complaints of headache and neck ache. Then she wasn't responding to questions so we took her to the ER. Thankfully, the CT scan and bloodwork all came back clear. I think the whole day just hit her at dinnertime and the exhaustion took over.

Day 2: An early day again and I don't sleep much anymore. I keep waking up through the night because I think that I'm going to oversleep and miss Sophie's radiation appointment. She surprisingly wakes up easily but always remarks that it's not ok with her to wake up when it's still nighttime. "I don't like that, Umma." 

Day 3: Her mood in the morning has been alright. She doesn't fuss too much and always picks a pink striped cotton dress to wear with her soft pink leggings to match her Hello Kitty socks. After treatment, Sophie overheard that Selah had a play date and wanted to go as well. It was nerve wracking for me because I didn't know if she could keep up with her friend and I wanted to avoid any and all meltdowns. Thankfully, being around other kids at this play place invigorated her and she wanted to walk on her own and played for a good hour sliding, climbing, and playing with her friend Sean. Selah loved seeing her sister laughing and having fun. Thanks, Jane and Sean!! We had an opthamology appointment in the afternoon and her left eye is only one line weaker on the eye chart than the right which accounts for the squinting. But thankfully no swelling in her eyes, as far as the doctor was able to tell. We love Wheaton Eye Clinic. Sophie's been fairly easy going this whole time. I know she's exhausted but will never take a nap. We've been putting her down earlier and she knocks out for the night.

Day 4: No one should wake up this early on a Saturday, especially for radiation treatments. But she had her port deaccessed today so she was in a better mood. Sunday: We've gone to church the past couple weeks and Sophie loves seeing her friends and familiar faces. We've missed worshipping God with our church family.