Day 18

Hard to believe we have already been here for 5 days! As crazy as it sounds, our days go by really fast in the hospital! Sofia has been doing great. We found out that the fever was caused by a staph infection, which is pretty common. We all have staph bacteria on our skin which can get into your system with a cut or break in skin. The difference is, Sofia had zero immune system to fight the bacteria. When talking about our immune system, the magic number is your ANC count. It is considered dangerous if this number drops below 500. When we were admitted, Sofia's number was 0. That's the point, though. The chemo killed all of her cells, bad and good. Now her body has to start rebuilding the healthy cells. So anytime Sofia gets a fever in the next 2 1/2 years and her count is under 500 she will stay in the hospital until it recovers. Sofia has been fever free since Thursday, the antibiotics are working to kill the bacteria and her numbers are slowly but surely on the rise. The hard part right now are the steroids! I've never known anyone on steroids, but I've heard the term "roid rage". For a 3 year old, it's like being on a roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes there is hitting, sometimes there is screaming but almost always there is crying. The constant crying breaks my heart. To hear her say "I'm not happy and I'll never be happy again" kills us! Luckily there are points when the crying stops and she smiles and goes back to being a 3 year old. The steroids have also increased her blood pressure so we have added blood pressure medication to the list. And finally, there is the hunger. This just hit 2 days ago. My little princess who barely eats anything, is now hungry! Food of choice- pizza. Today I asked, what would you like for breakfast, she answered pizza. Lunch? Pizza. Dinner? A hamburger, oh and mommy I forgot, also pizza. And the milk! She can't get enough milk! The rest of us are hanging in there. Every day, either Mike or I (we switch each day) take the baby for a walk over to Stanford mall. Coffee, Jamba Juice, browse around Nordstrom, just something outside the hospital in the open air. It also gives each of us a chance to have a little one on one with Noni. Speaking of Noni, he turned 2 months yesterday and he is the best baby ever!! Every morning my sister drops him off and she comes back to pick him up in the late evening after his last feeding before bed. He just eats, sleeps, smiles and poops. He is amazing and super cute!! This isn't going to be an easy road and for us and it has just begun. But, my sweet girl has been put through the ringer these past 18 days and she's handled it all like a warrior! I often felt that Sofia was going to do big things and make an impact on the world around her. She's already started! Oh, and did I mention all of the nurses request her. Every time a new Doctor comes around they say, so you're the beautiful girl everyone is talking about! If you think her blue eyes are pretty now, wait until she has no hair and they are all you can see!! #teamsofia #sofiastrong