fasting

for those participating today in the tradition of fasting first sunday of the month, we invite you to focus your thoughts and prayers on sofie's surgery scheduled this upcoming friday, dec 11. thanks to all for their prayers, love, and support heretofore.

basketball!

sofie's boyfriend, damon, scored over 20 points in their high school basketball opener that they won 55-30! go jackson and go damon!!!

last round of pre-surgery chemo

back to hospital tomorrow for the last pre-surgery chemo, another round of methotrexate. bonnie and sof are driving to slc tonight. sofie's white blood count is good, her red and platelets a little iffy at this point. similar situation last week and her counts came back by day of, so we hope for the same tomorrow.

a week from today for removing the tumor, so your prayers are greatly appreciated. also, we invite your fast this sunday.

--geoff

december 3rd

To the parents of my music students: Due to the change in Sofies surgery date to Dec 11th and her chemo schedule afterward, the very soonest I'll be able to teach is sometime in late January. Miss those kids!!
Bonnie

hooray!!!

after administration of methotrexate, levels have to drop to .1 before release from the hospital. i don't really know what .1 means, but when first measured following complete infusion, levels have been as high as 1750. three or four days of flushing are typically required to drop levels back to acceptable maximums. anyway, sofie is excited to be driving back to jackson today. she will be back this friday for another round of methotrexate which will lead fairly quickly to her surgery.

now, regarding the surgery: it is typically about a ten hour procedure. the doctor actually advised me to work that day. they also advise those planning to be on site to plan for time off site. it's emotionally grueling, and even as i write i am reticent to do so. regardless, we are excited for that nasty interloper to be out of our sweet girl's body!

sofie said yesterday, "i will proud of my scar!" that's our girl.

--geoff

latest nickname

knee replacement is a major part of sofie's surgery, so she has graciously adopted the nickname "newnee newnee."

--geoff

surgery date moved up!

so, guess what. sofie's surgery date has been moved up by over 2 weeks! if you're unsure, this is GOOD news to us. sofie's oncologist consulted with the surgeon and indicated she is responding more than adequately to chemo, recovers fairly readily, and so could proceed with the surgery sooner than later. so, on dec 11 she will be very uncomfortable, and in pretty severe pain for the first 3 days or so thereafter.

the last few days have been pretty traumatic: processing the news about surgical options was rough, and other significant events have really stretched us to our emotional limits...and beyond, frankly. sofie had a pretty rough night last; i simply can't quote one of the most wrenching questions she asked. and nearly as racking as the ultimate question is her grief over dance.

ugh, blogpost just failed to save over an hour of work. i haven't the energy to try and recapture it all, so suffice to say we met someone today who just got out of his 3 month cast from the same condition and surgery. it was miraculous to behold. and by miraculous i don't mean devoid of visible restructuring, re-shaping, etc. but i do mean that for how early the stage of healing, the leg appeared stable, ambulatory, highly functional, and well within limits of "normal" appearance. for a woman perhaps the concern will be deeper from a cosmetic viewpoint, but i am ecstatic and am very comfortable with saying sofie's leg will be beautiful.

on a lighter note: she ate good portions of solids today!

--geoff