Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Quick Update

Hello, friends!

I am delighted to write that I survived my first 26.2 mile race at the
Phildelphia Marathon! I thought of Sophie so many times during the race - I kept telling myself, "If she can endure cancer and six months of chemotherapy, I can run for a few hours!" I truly believe that my shift in perspective since Sophie's diagnosis played an enormous role in making my first marathon possible.

I just have a couple of quick updates for everyone this week. First, Sophie had to skip chemo today due to a slightly low red blood cell count (similar to her condition after her first dose of vincristine, but not as severe). Dr. Oberthaler sent us home with a short course of antibiotics, and we're going to try again on Friday.

I was actually not surprised when I received the call from Dr. O this morning - my "motherly" instinct must have been correct when I sensed some changes in Sophie's demeanor over the past week or so. During Thanksgiving break, she slept more than usual, even refusing a couple of walks. She's been a bit more "clingy" and affectionate for a day or so, and this morning she was unusually well-behaved in the car (yes, I wrote WELL behaved - her normal baseline is unbridled exuberance!).

Thanks to the advice of supporters like Abby Stark Hartman, a high school friend of mine who is a vet tech in Minneapolis, I have realized the importance of communicating these seemingly subtle changes to your veterinary caregivers, especially in oncology cases. Thank you, Abby, for helping me understand the value of the instinctive bond that we share with our pets.

In fundraising news, the
Mosby Foundation has graciously offered to feature Sophie on their website. I am putting together the information they need and will share the link when available. We also put in a new application this week to the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund - keep your paws crossed for us!

In preparing that last application, I concluded that our total need for Sophie's bill will be around $2300, so I have adjusted my ChipIn goal to reflect it. If you have ideas or leads to share, are willing to post our link on your social media page or simply forward an e-mail to friends, please get in touch with me at
dare2care4sophie@gmail.com.

Finally, through one of the many informal contests held by
Zipcar on their Facebook page, I managed to score $25 in driving credit! Zipcar has been indispensible to us in our weekly trips to chemo, so I just wanted to give them a shout-out here.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. There isn't enough typing room in the universe to convey how special mine was.

Much love,

Jenny & Sophie

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