Wednesday, September 28, 2005: Yesterday Leela's Broviac Catheter was removed, the last step of her treatment for retinoblastoma. The procedure was quick and easy. Around thirty minutes after going under, Leela woke up asking for fried chicken and rice-something she was promised the day before. We went from the recovery room to the cafeteria where Leela made short work of a drumstick, rice, and an ice cream pop. Later in the afternoon she proudly lifted her shirt to show her friends at the playground that only a band-aid remained where the catheter had been.

Over the last week or so the relief over the ending of Leela's treatment has slowly taken hold in us. This morning we symbolically restarted a clock in our dining room that I had stopped on the day of diagnosis. (That day the loud ticking had been somehow too much on top of the firestorm that was raging inside me.) Tonight Leela will have her first bubble bath since she got the catheter in March. It will be just as requested-with Maya and lots of splashing.