AFP 8.9!!!!

Princess Sylvie last night.
AFP= 8.9!!!!!
And, as Michael and Dr. Harris are quick to point out, the Yankees are in the World Series!
I’m hyper-organized and over concerned about being fastidious which I guess you could call obsessive compulsive and yet I’m not entirely successful because since Sylvie’s diagnosis last February, I have been particularly consistent in screwing up personal appointments and engagements. So when I send Sylvie off to play dates on the wrong date or time, I’m personally embarrassed and crushed, especially since I’ve most likely listed the correct information on multiple calendars.
That being said, there was no way I was going to screw up school picture day! On one hand, if left to fly her own freak flag, Sylvie might choose her party shoes that look like Chanel flats, leopard tights, a striped shirt and sequined skirt of non-matching colors. All of which, I’m totally fine with because I love that she has such a strong opinion about clothes. Except on picture day. I took out multiple appropriate outfits the night before so that she could still make a choice. Sylvie descended the stairs in a brand new pink and navy dress with matching purse. Her crew cut is about an eighth of an inch short of looking like a pixie cut although you would most likely never cut your daughter’s hair that short unless, say, they had cancer. Sylvie and I practice making faces—Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised, Scared, Silly and Shy so I am hoping that she used her Happy Face yesterday. When I picked up Sylvie from school, she was thrilled to be carrying the "Sound Bucket: letter F" which I'll explain later.

After school, Sylvie had her monthly check up with Dr. Harris. She was very excited to see Annette and Dr. Harris and she changed into her new pink & red play outfit for the occasion. Michael was meeting us there.
I felt just awful putting the Emla cream on Slylvie’s chest—it’s been a month! She was hysterical. I put some on my arm so I could see what the crocodile tears were about. Nothing. I didn’t feel a thing. In the parking lot of the Reuten Clinic, Sylvie said she wouldn’t go in unless Jette was carrying her. I didn’t see Jette’s dad’s truck so sadly, we carried on. I think Sylvie is learning her letters & numbers by the parking lot levels at the hospital.
There were signs all over the Reuten clinic warning parents of flu symptoms. Sylvie was scheduled to get a thimerosal-free Flu vaccine but the clinic was all out. They asked me to make an appointment with Dr. Rosen for flu and also for H1N1. Injectible. She shouldn’t even be near the flu-mist technically.
I was a little bummed looking at Sylvie’s accessed port. We have come a long way since Michael and I were flushing her port and administering medicine in the middle of the night.
Dr. Harris and Annette came in and were just gushing about how great Sylvie looked. Sylvie is now 26 lbs. and 35.6 inches tall. She gained another 1.5 pounds in the past month and grew another ½ inch. Sylvie quickly got bored of me & Dr. Harris so she and Annette went for a walk down the hall. Sylvie was so excited to show off her moves to Annette. They called Ellen, one of Sylvie’s APNs from upstairs in Ped Onc who came running down to get bombarded by Sylvie. It was pretty cute.
I asked Dr. Harris the million dollar question which I had a hard time even saying aloud. PORT. There, I said it. If they don’t want to remove it, then they’re looking for more cancer. That’s my irrational view. So when Dr. Harris said he expected Sylvie’s AFP to be normal and asked me to call Dr. Valda to schedule the port removal, Michael and I were overjoyed!
We left. Sylvie was pissed because she couldn’t get her mozzarella sticks. Easily remedied by a trip to Target.
By the time we arrived home, there was a message from Annette with the great news that
Sylvie’s AFP is 8.9!!!!!!!!!
Last February, it was over 500,000.
Hallelujah!
We had our own little party last night, opened up our last bottle of Merryvale Starmount 2005 cab and began to plan our first vacation since December 2008.

As for the sound bucket, we had until this morning to fill it with as many things that begin with the letter F as possible. Since we're talking about Sylvie of course, naturally we have lots of Fairies, Fairy Godmother figurine, Flounder action figure, Friend (Samantha) photograph, Family photograph, fork (I left home the princess fork and opted for the Flamingo one), fishing rod from Aunt Cindy & Uncle Adam, a blue flute and the ultimate F item-- the talking ferret stuffed animal that Nurse Tenderheart the clown gave Sylvie in the hospital. I was concerned that Lucy or Lucky might eat it overnight. I was thinking for a while that F stood for F&*$ when I couldn't find a frog, frisbee or feather. Overall, I think it went well and the ferret survived another day in the house of predators.

I made it to Tim's spin class this morning and thought it was a sign that his new mix tape (yes, cassette tape!) contained obscure Jayhawks songs and even Semisonic! Oddly, I was the youngest person in the class and most definitely the only person who could name every single song... Jethro Tull, REM, Jayhawks, Jackson Browne, Semisonic, Rob Thomas and the Smithereens. While Sylvie went to the Hallowen Party at the gym with Michael this evening, I worked on the $ylvie $$$$preadsheet. It's pretty staggering to say the least.