Celebrity Sophia

This afternoon Jacq, Sophia, and I made what will be post-chemo twice weekly trips to the 15th floor of Penn Tower to have my blood tested to confirm that the chemo is doing its job, and, of course, not doing its job not too well. Witness last cycle’s bottomed out platelet and hemoglobin counts that left me barely able to move and requiring multiple transfusions. I am happy that the whole process worked, but vigilance will keep me safe and hopefully without neutropenic fevers.

So far, the counts are all dropping normally, I am not yet neutropenic, and we are therefore looking forward to a nice dinner of my choosing tonight. I am feeling tired, but I have not yet hit bottom.

There is definitely a different feeling to our trips to 15 Penn Tower now that we have little Sophia and now that I am lymphoma free. First, having Sophia with us not only makes us focus on health over wellness, life over death, but in a place that sees so much sickness we watch in wonder how Sophia seems to inspire smiles in doctors, nurses, staff, and most certainly fellow patients. We walk in the door to the clinic and our little Sophia is mobbed, a baby celebrity in a world that needs it so badly. And that is a good thing. Second, that my lymphoma is gone now and hopefully forever, the visits seem routine, and we are focused on the future, and on health, and on long life. We could ask for nothing more in this wondrous new year.