Katya's Journal

Last Updated November 2, 2006

In the afternoon we went to Portland to talk with Dr. Nicholson. Katya stayed behind in Eugene with Natasha and Tolya and Sonya Pekelny. Dr. Nicholson gave us prescriptions for new medicine -- molecular agents to inhibit tumor's signaling pathways. These drugs are taken by mouth and are less toxic than the standard chemotherapy agents.

Katya's interest in ancient history is still strong. Today her favorite hero is Ulysses. After reading for the third time the story of the Trojan Horse, she had a scholarly discussion with Tolya about who was wiser and more cunning -- Ulysses or King Solomon. They eventually agreed that King Solomon was the smartest of all.

Tuesday 9/27
At school Katya was making patterns from colored cubes: 2 orange, 2 blue, 2 orange, etc. But then she saw that other children alternate 1 orange, 1 blue, ..., and changed her pattern to conform to the majority fashion.
After school Katya went to the hairdresser's. Yesterday Katya and Sonya started working on Katya's new hair style and Amy neatly finished the job.

Today Katya heroically swallowed 5 new pills. Yesterday, when Masha told her that she would have to start taking new medicine, Katya got very scared, since she had never before swallowed large pills. But people at the pharmacy gave Katya a special magic cup for taking scary drugs. The very first pill Katya swallowed using the cup. After that she was no longer afraid and allowed the remaining pills to be simply thrown into her mouth.

Wednesday 9/28
Katya visited her osteopath today. She likes the procedure a lot. It makes her so relaxed that she nearly fell asleep while the doctor was working with her.

In the afternoon Katya went to the ballet class. It is not easy for her, but she tries hard and likes the experience.

There were no problems with taking medicine. Katya swallows the new pills easily. But we had our share of screams and kicks when we tried to take Katya out of the bathtub at bedtime.

Thursday 9/29
Tolya and Sofa Pekelny came to say goodbuy before their return to California (hopefully not for too long). As always, they showered Katya with toys. Tolya and Katya blew a dozen of balloons and this made both of them very happy.

In the afternoon Katya gladly went for a bike ride with Lena and Phillip. But when they arrived to the playground, Katya did not want to stay there and said that she is tired and wants to go home right away.

In the morning Katya was taking her pills cheerfully. But in the evening she did not want to cooperate and it was very difficult to convince her to take the medicine.

Friday 9/30
Katya and Sasha decided to open an art studio at the backyard. Katya enthusiastically mixed paints, but as soon as she started putting them on paper, it began raining.

The medicine taking went along smoother than on Thursday, but not without problems. To solve these problems Julia came with her new tale about Itsy and Betsy, the ladybugs.

Saturday 10/01
The whole family went to Eugene City Library and brought back several bags of books. Katya liked walking between the rows of books, picking a book and reading it on the floor. On the way back to the car Katya had to walk several blocks. It is getting harder for her to use her right leg. Back a home Katya drew a present for her friend, Archimandrite Evsevij from Jerusalem. She was drawing with her right hand, even though she is having difficulty making fine finger movements.

In the evening Katya played with Anya and Arkasha. Katya was dressed all in white to show she that was a poor princess. When Arkasha asked how she became so poor that her guests had to sit on her throne, Katya replied: "She was rich some time ago, but she liked giving presents too much!"

Taking food and medicine was easy today even though Katya's daily regimen has over 30 items now.

Sunday 10/02
While she was playing after the church service, Katya vomited and made everyone (including herself) very scared. We do not know whether this is a reaction to the new pills, or a sign of tumor activity.
After the morning incident, Katya got afraid of taking hard pills. Eventually we managed to persuade her to try them again. She was very surprised and proud to find out that she is swallowing pills better than before.

Monday 10/03
The day did not look promising from the very beginning.
In the morning Katya had to go to the lab for a blood test. She cried bitterly and pleaded with Masha promising to do anything for the permission to stay at home. When, after fierce kicking and fighting the test was done, Katya calmed down but looked offended (and exhausted).
At the music lesson in the afternoon her mood has not become much better. Katya hid under the piano and resisted all efforts to engage her in musical activities.
Only in the evening while playing with Lizka at home did she become her old happy self.

Tuesday 10/04
In a car, on the way to Portland to the weekly checkup with her neuro-oncologist, Katya threw up all her morning intake of food and medicine. Dr. Nicholson said that this morning sickness may be a reaction to the pills, but more likely it is related to the discharge of fluids by the tumor. His assessment of Katya's condition was that even though weakness in her right leg and arm indeed increased, she manages them well and no drugs for symptom treatment are necessary at the moment.
Katya had another appointment in Portland today -- with Dr. Thom, a naturopath who replaced one of her homeopathic remedies with another.

Between the two doctors Katya and her parents visited the beautiful Portland's International Rose Test Garden . After coming home Katya told us that she was in the Rose Museum and saw the most beautiful roses in the whole world.

Wednesday 10/05
All day Katya was inventing conditions and excuses trying to avoid taking any food and medicine at all. As a result everyone got exhausted.
At the ballet class Katya suddenly became very energetic and even started jumping.
In the evening Katya's grandmother Lyusya arrived from Moscow. We hope that her enthusiasm and positive energy will help Katya to become more active.

Thursday 10/06
Lyusya's presence indeed immediately became noticeable. All day long she was feeding Katya, giving her medicine and inventing various fun activities. They went for a bike ride, danced, sang songs, played in the back yard, worked on jig-saw puzzles. Katya was so happy that for the first time in weeks she did not even notice when Masha and Sasha left home for a few hours.

Friday 10/07
Playing with Lyusya Katya moves more and, what is very important, uses her right arm and foot more often. Today, while her parents were away, Katya was teaching Lyusya the right way to give her medicine.
In the afternoon, Katya visited Mara and Kiryusha Myagkov. Katya was especially fascinated with their two pet geckos, even though she was a bit shy at first.
In the evening Katya was making patterns with colored pyramids. Then she suddenly dressed up and declared that she is a wife of an English crown prince, but when she becomes a Queen, she would remain Russian.

Saturday 10/08
Today Katya went for a horseback ride with Tosha Perlina and her beautiful Arabian horse Trixy. Katya was absolutely euphoric -- she was laughing out loud, singing songs and did not want to go home by car -- only on a horseback. Luckily for us, on the way back it started raining and Katya changed her mind.
When she was telling at home about the big event, Katya said that the horse was moving slowly because she was told to be careful, but "of course she could gallop if she wanted to." When everyone started praising Katya's courage saying how brave she was, she replied: "Don't you know that the only thing I am scared of is dragons!"
Indeed, for the last few days Katya was bravely taking her medicine, walking downstairs without support and throwing and catching balls with both hands. She gets tired easily, but after laying down for a while, she would get up and go on playing.

Sunday 10/09
After church Katya played with Mitka for a couple of hours. She was a queen and Mitka was her brave knight and performed various heroic deeds for her, such as rescuing the princess from a dragon.
In the afternoon Katya went to the playground with Lizka and Lyusya. She is having difficulty walking, but on the playground she hardly ever notices it.

In the evening Masha was preparing Katya for the blood test on Monday. They had a thorough scientific discussion about the red and white blood cells and their various functions and how it is important to know exactly what is going on in the blood when the person is sick. Katya was very interested in this and seemed persuaded that the test is nothing worth being afraid of. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

Monday 10/10
Approximately one hour after the morning procedures Katya vomited. She was not scared as the week before, but the nausea lasted longer and Masha gave her Zofran. It helped and by the time they came for the blood test, Katya felt better.
When they arrived at the lab, Katya began to cry, but relaxed after Lyusya started singing to her and took the shot quite well. Later she told Julia that she got used to giving blood. She is no longer afraid of shots which pull stuff out of her, but still does not like it when they put stuff in.
In the afternoon Katya played with her new Lincoln logs set and built five different houses.
In the evening nausea came back and we gave Katya ginger tea. It was very spicy, but the good girl drank it all while watching "Tale of the lost time", a movie that Lyusya brought from Moscow.

Tuesday 10/11
In the morning Katya with Masha and Julia went to Portland for the weekly check-up with Dr. Nicholson. He said that nausea is likely to be caused by the chemo drugs and is not something to worry about now. He also said that if the symptoms worsen, he would recommend steroids and radiation therapy. But if the next MRI shows no tumor growth, he would instead add an antiangiogenic drug Thalidomide.
From the hospital Katya and Co. went to the Rose Garden, where they savored the heavenly odor of roses and gorgeous views of Mt. Hood and downtown Portland. They played hide-and-seek among the rose bushes. Katya was always hiding behind a "laughing rose", the unusual kind that starts giggling when you approach it and bursts into laughter when you bend down to smell.

On the way back Katya became tired and it was hard to give her food and medicine. Then she fell asleep in the car and slept through the whole night.

Wednesday 10/12
Katya had nausea almost all day long and had to miss the ballet class.
Walking is becoming more challenging because of the "naughty" right leg. Katya says that the leg is not behaving -- when she asks it to walk, it just trembles and disobeys. "It wouldn't walk no matter what - whether I beg or scold it. But my hand behaves much better - it allows the other hand to help it and they do things together well!"
The leg is the only thing that really bothers Katya now and she says that she wants to get better very much so that the leg would stop being lazy. (She does not seem to mind the double vision, even though she has to close one eye while watching movies.)
Katya spent the afternoon dressing up in the beautiful dresses that Olga Weinstein sent her. Katya said that she is getting so many presents because "she is the sickest girl in the world."

Thursday 10/13
Anya had got a flu and stayed with Lizka and Mitka in their house for several days. Today Anya is finally back home. However she had to miss school again. Katya has missed Anya so much, she would not let her go. When Grandma asked Katya, 'Who do you love best?', Katya replied: "Most of all I love God, then Angels and Saints, and in the third place I love Anya."

When Katya got up at 7 am (instead of her usual 9) she wanted to wake Anya right away, but Masha would not allow her. Katya then said that OK, she would wait for 5 minutes. She established herself on the floor near Anya's bed and every 30 seconds shouted "Mama, how many more minutes should I wait?" Everyone was very happy when Anya finally got up and the shouting stopped.
Katya was at the playground for short while and then she and Lizka played with the neighbors' cat Bayukha. Back at home Katya watched the video about Lyusya's cat, Musya.
Katya had some nausea after taking her drugs, but a cup of ginger tea took care of it.


Friday 10/14
Today Katya was quite active. She danced and built log houses with Lyusya. In the afternoon she spent several hours at the back yard playing and raking leaves.

In the evening the whole big family got together for dinner. Katya was very excited to find out that there were exactly ten people at the table. She clearly felt better than yesterday, although several times she would rush to the table to have a few gulps of ginger tea. This was the only indication that she had nausea.

Saturday 10/15
A couple of days ago Katya got a new Barbie doll as a present and was disappointed that it was an exact twin of another Barbie she had. So she and Masha went to the toy store and exchanged it for a Cinderella Barbie. The rest of the day Katya was playing with this new doll and even built a log cabin for her.

In the morning Katya said she had pain in the lower back part of her head. However, we are not certain about the exact location. It may just as well be her strained neck rather than head that was giving her pain.
Katya did not complain about anything else today. She did not even ask for ginger tea and probably did not feel nausea. (She had some ginger with food, though.)

We finally updated information on the page with Katya's treatment regimen. It was long overdue.


Sunday 10/16
Today Katya woke up with a strong headache and was complaining about it bitterly. She was very week the whole day. Despite this, she played with kids at the church playground and then invited Anya Laptova and played with her at home.
After a brief ride on Sasha's back to inspect Halloween decorations in the neighborhood, Katya asked to go home and was fast asleep before we had a chance to give her any food or medicine.
Hopefully, the fatigue and headache are due to Gleevec. After all, according to some studies they occur as side effects in 30%-45% of patients.

We have posted some new nice photos from the past few days, please check them up.

Monday 10/17
Katya woke up at 3am demanding entertainment in the form of fairy tails and playing with her Barbie dolls. It was almost 7 when she finally agreed to go back to bed.

She looks more active than yesterday, but is still very fatigued. Katya was reading tons of books and watching Disney cartoons all day and did not want to leave house.
Only after Julia told her that her help was needed to chase away bad Halloween spiders that were threatening the ladybugs Itsy and Betsy, did Katya agree to go for a short walk in the neighborhood. With her right leg becoming "lazier and lazier", Katya feels very insecure walking on her own and wants to be held by the hand or carried when outside.

Tuesday 10/18
Nausea and fatigue are gone and Katya clearly feels better. She even claims that "I am as strong as when I was not sick, only my leg is very lazy." However, the truth is that her right arm is weakening even faster than the leg, and for example, she can no longer close her fingers to a fist.
When they came to the lab for her weekly test, Katya wanted the blood to be drawn from her right arm. But the arm was so numb that they only managed to get just a few drops of blood from the vein, so in the end Katya agreed to use her left arm.
After the blood work, Katya went to the osteopath. The doctor told us that her energy level was better than the week before.

In the evening Julia and Arkasha took Katya for a walk. At first, she did not want to move at all. But then a black-and-white cat came by and Katya started running after it and play hide-and-seek (or, rather, cat-and-mouse). She stroked the cat several times with her coat and explained that the cat would like it better if she used her bare hand, but "if I touch my mother and father after stroking a cat, they may get very sick" (they are both allergic to cats).

Wednesday 10/19
Blood test results were quite good. The white blood counts are back to norm, and the only abnormal thing was a slightly lower hemoglobin level. This may be caused by Artemether or Gleevec, but there is no need to worry about it now.

Katya had a ballet class today. She tried very hard to do all movements right, but with the lazy arm and leg, it was very difficult. Still, she enjoyed the class very much.
In the evening Brad Shelton came by with his great dog Cleo and they took Katya for a walk. For an hour and a half Katya was running wildly after Cleo, laughing happily and completely ignoring the fact that her leg was not working properly. And Cleo behaved as if she knew exactly what was expected from her.
On the downside, we noticed today that when Katya cries, her face moves asymmetrically. This might be an indication that some of her facial muscles are weakening.

Thursday 10/20
Katya visited her pediatrician today. Dr. Bradshaw confirmed that the blood test was all right except for some minor signs of anemia. She also noticed progressing neurological symptoms in the right side of Katya's body.
We will get a more detailed picture from an MRI test tomorrow.

Friday 10/21
In the morning Katya had her third MRI exam. She knew the drill all too well and did not make any fuss. She was relieved, however, when her old friend Amber came to give her the I.V. shot. This time Katya did not need an extra dose of the sedative and she was not so sleepy for the rest of the day.

After the procedure Katya and Masha picked up Katya's new wheelchair. Katya was very exited to have her personal vehicle, but even more so to get two teddy bears (a polar bear and a purple witch bear) as a present from the store. From there they went to Julia's house where Katya played with Bayukha. They were going to pick up Lizka from school, but Katya vomited soon after taking Gleevec and stayed at home.

We have not got the official MRI report yet, but it looks like the tumor has not changed much in overall size. It became more round (something like 5 x 3.5 x 3.5 cm compared with 5 x 3.8 x 3.1 cm before) and the enhancement spot grew longer by about 20-25%. Also the tumor seems more vascular which makes starting Thalidomide even more appropriate. We will probably have a better understanding of the situation on Monday after visiting Dr. Nicholson in Portland.

Saturday 10/22
Katya and Lizka went to Dasha's birthday party which was held at a pizzeria. The girls were quite happy having their healthy food instead of pizza, but when a chocolate cake was brought in, Katya demanded a "healthy" cake for her. When she was told that they do not have a healthy cake, she started crying and then suddenly stopped and said very calmly that she would settle for five pieces of ham from that pizza. The cook quickly made her a special toasted ham after which Katya became very happy and enthusiastically played with other children at the party. Lizka even claimed to see Katya raise her "lazy arm" to the monkey bars.

Sunday 10/23
After church service Katya was making bead bracelets and played with children for a long time.
Masha got a cold and had to be isolated from Katya. Arkasha was summoned to help with medicine taking. Katya was not very happy to have her strict uncle in charge, but being smart as she is, she quickly realized it was in her best interests to play by the rules. Everything went smoothly that night. Katya even had time for her favorite treat - she did some math "homework" with Arkasha and Lizka.

Monday 10/24
We went to Portland with Katya to see Dr. Nicholson, the funny doctor as Katya called him (because he never gives her shots and plays with her). He confirmed that the tumor looks stable in size, although the enhanced spot seems a bit larger than a month ago. After a neurological examination Dr. Nicholson said that Katya's symptoms did not progress much. He was clearly pleased with the results and said that he will prescribe Thalidomide and may add another drug to our "cocktail" in two weeks, if there are no serious side effects.

After the hospital it was Katya's turn to decide what to do next. She chose to go to the Rose Garden to play hide-and-seek in the rose bushes.
The whole day Katya was very well-behaved and did not have problems with medicine or with anything else. She confessed to Masha with disbelief: "Mama, you know, I like it better when I behave, than when I throw tantrums!"

Tuesday 10/25
Today a physical therapy doctor visited Katya in her house. She showed Masha and Katya how to do massage. She also suggested that we get Katya a special orthopedic boot to help with her right foot.

We've got a copy of the radiologist's report for Katya's third MRI. A complete copy of the scans is also available online.

Wednesday 10/26
In the morning Katya had her regular visit with a naturopath. Then she went to the orthopedist to order a special boot for her right foot. She was quite exited about the idea of helping her "lazy foot" to be good again, but it may be challenging to convince Katya to actually wear the boot.

Meanwhile it gets harder and harder to convince her to walk. She prefers to sit or even to crawl.
In the afternoon we were celbrating Mitka's 17th birthday. Katya gave him a wonderful blue unicorn . She was very pleased that we had a special "healthy" pie made from tapioca flour, goat cheese, butternut squash, mango, pears and apples. She did not eat much of it, but she had lot of fun anyway.

Thursday 10/27
Katya still enjoys visiting playgrounds, but as walking is getting more difficult, she tries not to walk at all.
In the afternoon Irene Dyer from the church came to visit with her the dog Sophie. This gave Katya a great legitimate opprotunity to spend time on the floor.
Lyusya has a theory that Katya simply does not want to walk unless she is wearing a long dress so that nobody sees that her right foot moves awkwardly.

Friday 10/28
Today Katya went to Andryusha Kleshchev's birthday party. His mother prepared all meals so that Katya would be able to eat, but Katya did not touch anything. She was rather aggressive and did not play well with the kids. She also flatly refuses to walk.

Saturday 10/29
Today there was a special service for Katya at St. John's Orthodox Church during which she was given the sacrament of Unction ( soborovanie ). This was a long and a solemn service during which three priests (Fathers David and Stephen from St. John's and Father Timothy from St. George's Church) read all places in the old and new testaments about miraculous healings and anointed Katya with prayer oil.

Sunday 10/30
Katya had a very good time at church. When she returned home, Jon and Kathy Brundan and their children came to visit. They had great fun carving pumkins and reading Dr. Seuss' books together.


Monday 10/31
Today Katya had several medical visits. It gets harder and harder to draw blood from her veins at the lab --- the blood simply would not flow.
During the regular checkup with the pediatrician Dr. Bradshaw confirmed that Katya's facial asymmetry gets stronger. This may be a sign of some tumor swelling which is not visible on the MRI.
Then Katya went to the orthopedic doctor and got an orthopedic boot which is supposed to prevent her right foot from dragging. At first Katya did not want to wear it, but after realizing that it helps her to walk, she spent two hours in it. As a result she got blisters on her foot. We will have to take the boot back for adjustment.

The whole day today Katya was rather anemic and did not want to eat. When she came to Lizka's house to go trick-o-treat together, she was very exhausted. Katya just laid down on the floor in her cute green cartepilar costume and talked about the costume she will wear the next year (grey elephant). Eventually they did visit several houses (some neighbors gave them beany babies instead of candies because they knew about the girls' new healthy lifestyle).

Tuesday 11/1 -- Tuesday 11/15
Sorry, we have not had time for updates during the last two weeks. We have been traveling to California and had many out of town guests. We will bring the site up to date soon. Meanwhile, here is a brief digest of Katya's condition.

Katya added a new drug to her regimen, Thalidomide, on November 2. Still, her symptoms are slowly developing. Facial asymmetry is more noticeable and she cannot walk any longer unassisted. Also she almost never wants to eat anything, and feeding her is at times more challenging than giving her medicine. It is not clear whether this is happening because of the tumor growth or due to reaction to drugs. We hope to learn more after the next MRI at the end of this week.

Wednesday 11/16
Katya is very weak and lethargic. Despite the new and improved orthopedic boot that really helps her to control the right foot, she does not want to move at all.
Today was the first time she vomited in the morning before taking any medicine or food. Katya practically stopped eating and drinking - during the whole day she ate half an orange and a few bites of a bagel. Still she takes medicine dutifully (of course not without imposing her standard conditions and prerequisites). At least she is getting some water and calories with the medicine.

Thursday 11/17
Katya feels nauseated and is extremely weak. She would not even sit up by herself. In the morning a new massage therapist came, but Katya was not fit for anything more than some gentle strokes (which she liked). Also a physical therapist brought her a new and a very fancy wheel chair.

In the afternoon we took Katya to Dr. Bradshaw and she got very worried because of Katya's condition. She recommended to put keep her in the hospital overnight to run blood tests and to feed her intravenously. So, instead of going to a long-awaited Lizka's birthday party, Katya went to the hospital with her parents.

Friday 11/18
The blood tests done at the hospital showed very dangerous levels of Katya's liver enzymes (20-25 times above norm). This is a sign of drug related toxicity. Immediately Katya was given blood plasma intravenously.
During MRI the doctors noticed an excess accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (hydrocephalus) in Katya's head. This usually happens because the tumor obstructs the flow of the fluids and is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, headaches, sleepiness, weakness, etc. The doctors were amazed that Katya was not vomiting all the time and did not complain about severe headaches. The decision has been made to treat Katya's hydrocephalus surgically.

At 2:30 pm Masha and Katya went in an ambulance to Doernbecher Children's hospital in Portland (working on Katya's blood and liver along the way). At 7pm Katya was taken for an hour-long surgery. Dr. Nathan Selden, the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Doernbecher, inserted a shunt - a device that channels fluid from the brain into the abdominal cavity, where it is absorbed into the blood stream. Soon Katya woke up and demanded food (for the first time this week) and entertainment (they brought some Russian animated movies). She is given morphine for pain, antibiotics and Decadron (a steroid to help control swelling in the brain). Barely an hour after the surgery she was already sitting up, laughing and telling stories - a dramatic change compared with rest of the week.

Katya's liver enzymes remain high, but not as high as the day before.
We do not have report on today's MRI yet, but besides of hydrocephalus, the images look similar to the ones from the previous MRI without noticeable change in tumor size.

Saturday 11/19
Katya was so "high" after the surgery that she stayed awake till 7:30 in the morning. When she woke up 3 hours later, she said that she is "terribly hungry" and immediately consumed a hearty breakfast.
When Anya, Julia and Arkasha came to the hospital, Katya was boastful: "You know, doctors allowed me to eat chicken nuggets and French fries, just like in McDonald's! And they said it is OK to eat this food because I was one of the very best girls they knew. Also they took away part of this nasty lump in my head, so now I will feel better!"
And indeed she looks and feels much better than yesterday or two days before. The changes are probably due to the removal of intracranial pressure after the surgery, but the abrupt change in appetite was most likely caused by Decadron.

Katya was taken off the IV in the afternoon, but she will have to stay in the hospital at least till Monday. Her liver enzyme levels are still very high and need monitoring. For the same reason we had to suspend giving Katya anticancer drugs till her liver function normalizes.

Sunday 11/20
Katya slept well through the night constantly making sure that Masha is at her side. In the morning she demanded chicken nuggets, French fries and ketchup. This was a tough task, since even at McDonald's they don't make them around the clock. Katya patiently waited till 11am when the hospital's cafeteria produced the first load of nuggets and fries. We knew that steroids trigger a surge in appetite, but that it was mostly in the junk food area was news for us.
The scar on Katya's head is healing properly and from the surgical point of view Katya is doing just fine. But she started to complain about pain in the areas along the shunt and still depends on morphine. Also she is having frequent mood swings which is also a standard side effect of Decadron. We noticed another worrisome change which we cannot attribute to steroids or to the tumor activity. Katya started showing signs of memory problems and confusion. Hopefully, this is a residual effect of hydrocephalus and if so should soon disappear.

Monday 11/21
In the morning Katya had a blood test which showed that, even though her liver levels are still very high, they went down a bit. Katya was allowed to leave the hospital. While saying goodbye to Katya, her neurosurgeon said again how remarkably strong she was and that he still cannot comprehend that she was not screaming nonstop before the operation from all that pressure in her cranium.

On learning that she will soon go home, Katya got overjoyed, but first ordered another portion of McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries. Even though today she was given only half of yesterday's Decadron dose, she made sure everybody remembered that she is now officially entitled to have mood swings. When her parents failed (or rather did not know how) to satisfy one of Katya's elaborate preconditions for taking medicine, she started throwing dishes at them and chased them out of the room. When a passing nurse noticed what was going on, she casually remarked "Oh, so your child is on steroids then?" This fit of hysteria lasted for almost an hour and ended abruptly when a calmed down Katya invited them in and asked "Why aren't you giving me the medicine -- do you want me to die here?"

Everyone was happy when Katya, Masha and Sasha got back home. Katya was very excited and said that she loves and missed everyone (including Arkasha, even though she is afraid of him sometimes). She told us about the hospital and the good doctors who did not give her that many shots. She showed no signs of confusion or memory problems today.

Tuesday 11/22
With the pressure in her head gone and appetite restored, Katya's strength is returning. Today she was walking around the house, first pushing a chair or holding someone's hands. When Katya is not having one of her Decadron-induced fits (she only had them a couple of times today), she is rather cheerful and active. She is also regaining her philosophical self. When she was playing with her Maisy Mouse and was trying to find another little mouse, Sasha said that probably the other mouse left on some business. Katya objected saying "Mice do not have businesses and little mice especially do not have any businesses (delov in Russian)."

When Masha went out for a while, Katya was just "a little bit upset" and then volunteered to take some medicine as a surprise for mama. Katya seems to be sharing our concern that because of liver toxicity she is not taking any therapeutic drugs now. If the next blood test shows that liver has improved, we will restart the therapy. Otherwise the treatment will have to be modified.

Wednesday 11/23
Today Katya had several visitors. First, Father David came and gave Katya a priest's hat and said that she is the only girl in the world who has such a hat. On hearing this Katya put the hat on and wore it for several hours.
Also he gave her a little bell to ring when she feels bad so that people start praying for her.

In the afternoon Tolya and Sofa came and brought Katya a cat puppet. Katya became worried that this and her other toy cat may pose a threat to her Maisy Mouse so she started lecturing them: "So! You understand! You can't eat this mouse -- you must be friendly to her!" But the cats said that Maisy looks very tasty and they are not sure that they can control themselves. Katya thought a little then stood up and said: "Listen carefully, cats and mice, I will judge you. (ya vas rassuzhu). Lyusya, bring me the book about King Solomon, immediately!" Lyusya brought children's Bible and Katya found the story about the temptation of Christ. After Lyusya read it aloud, Katya said triumphantly: "See, now you understand?" But apparently not everyone understood, since Sasha asked Katya what she meant. Katya explained that Christ endured and so everyone (especially cats) should also resist temptation. "One does not always get what one wants" she concluded. After that Masha asked Katya what she herself wants. Katya said that she wants five things and listed them:

1. That I do not die ( Chtob ne umeret')
2. That I become a Saint (Chtob stat' kakoj-nibud' svyatoj)
3. That the cats do not eat Maisy Mouse
4. That there is no war
5. That all the bad guys become good, but only God can do that.

• - The doctor who helps me the most is the one who strokes my head [i.e. the osteopathic doctor]. But my head often gets dizzy after that. And also he is very strict and does not like when I am late.
• - Do you know who I love most of all in the second place?
  - Who? [We all know that the first place belongs to God and Anya used to be the runner-up, but nothing is permanent ... ]
  - Saint Catherine! And after her?
  - ???
  - All Saints! And after them - Father David.
  - And what about Anya?
  - I love Anya very much. She is next.
• - Oh my head, my silly head! (Claps on her head and laughs out loud.) Why are you imagining things that I did not ask you to imagine?
  - What do you mean?
  - It shows me the film about hobbits with the dragon and other bad things [Makes a scary face.] And my head knows that I don't like them!   And now it imagines a scary scene from Fantasia. Oh, and now it shows me the funny part with centaurs and Pegasus families. [Laughs and then suddenly becomes serious.]
  - Why is that your head always wants to do things on its own? Why can't it always be obedient?
• - I don't like it when mother and father kiss on the mouth
  - Well, they love each other...
  - I don't mind if they kiss, I just don't like seeing it. I have a funny feeling when I see it.

• From a conversation with Julia: "You can't even imagine how Mama and Papa love me! They love me too much, I think. They even allow me ... one sweet cream puff per day!"
  However, Katya refused to eat whipped cream at the half-birthday party on Thursday, saying that it was "way too sweet."
• After visiting bathroom, Katya complained: "I have to much panties in my bottom," but when Julia rushed to help, Katya stopped her and said: "Don't worry, this is not important. What is in your heart matters most!"
• New level of sophistication: "I thought earlier that "Shadow" (H.C.Andersen's tale) is the saddest story of all, but I was wrong. "Little Mermaid" is even more sad." Why? "Because Shadow is bad from the beginning till the end and in "Little Mermaid" the prince, who is good, is doing a very bad thing in the end."

Avastin (bevacizumab) is a very promising anti-angiogenic drug which has shown remarkable results in glioblastoma trials. The usual concern is that, since it has not been tried on children with brain tumors, it may cause some serious side-effects. But a recent pediatric trial found that Avastin is well tolerated in children with non-CNS solid tumors. Also we learned about a few children with brain tumors who used Avastin with Irinotecan (CPT-11) off label and did have not any problems other than diarrhea.

These results looked impressive not only to patients and doctors. When our insurance company (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) saw the trials' data, they agreed to partially cover the treatment. We were glad to hear this - Avastin is a VERY expensive drug.

So Katya started her new treatment today.
First she was pretreated with two 30-minutes IV infusions of Zofran and 2mg of Decadron to prevent infusion-related complications. Then, after flushing, she had two 90-minutes infusions with Avastin and CPT-11. All together, Katya spent five hours doing the IV treatment. Amazingly, she was neither bored nor tired - she watched movies, listened to music and played with toys, all without complaining of showing any signs of discomfort.

After the procedure Katya became quite hyper-active (but not aggressive as we were afraid she might be on Decadron) and spent some time letting out her energy. First she ran along the hospital's halls playing hide-and-seek with nurses. When she got tired of running, she found herself a car and started driving around in it. Later she switched to a tractor.
Before Katya left the hospital, the nurses gave her a fancy Lego set for a present.

Back in Eugene, Katya decided that she needs to play more and said that she wants to go to Tugman park to take medications and to play. And so Katya went to Tugman on a bike with Anya, Sasha and Arkasha. Each of her companions had a special task. Anya was the driver of Katya's bike. Sasha was the carrier of Katya's medications and water-guns. And Arkasha was a very convenient target for water-guns.



Thursday, July 20
For the first time in days Katya did not have nausea in the morning. Instead she said that she was hungry and ate a decent breakfast.
In the early afternoon, however, she felt nauseous and for some time was worried that she will throw up. In the end nothing happened.

It is getting very hot and impossible to play outside. So Masha took Katya and Anya to Amazon pool where they spent several delightful hours in and around water.

Friday, July 21
In the morning Katya went to her osteopath. Always she enjoyed the visit.
After lunch she complained about nausea again and eventually threw up.
Anya together with Katya wrote a poem on the occasion. Here it is (in Russian with literal English translation):

	Ikota, ikota,		Hiccup, hiccup,
	Ty luchshe chem rvota.		You are better than vomiting.
	Tak chto ne bojsya,		So don't be scared,
	A luchshe umojsya.		but better go and wash yourself.

Even though vomiting is worrisome, we are glad it does not happen in the morning. It is more likely related to the treatment than to the tumor, so we may try to control the symptoms by anti-nausea medications and homeopathy.

In the afternoon Katya was left in the care of Julia and Anya. When the Koraku time came, Anya invented a special game. Anya played a Lord and Katya played the role of a Princess who was turned into a toad and could turn back into a princess only after drinking a magic potion named Koraku. Anya said "And so the Lord found Koraku, came to the Toad and told her to open her mouth." Katya immediately opened her mouth and down her throat went Koraku.
Julia's job was to provide custom-made fairy tales to go with Katya's meals. Katya suggested odd combinations of characters and Julia engaged them in action.

At some point Katya said "Now I am going to make poems. You, Julia and Anya, pull out your pencils and start writing them down." When she finished dictation, she asked Julia and Anya to read what they wrote and corrected their errors. Katya sure takes her work seriously.
This time she experimented with rhymes and rhythm and did not care much about content.
Then she asked Julia and Anya to make stories in rhymed verse on topics of her choice. One story was about "A bubbly girly who hurt her little knee" ["devochka-penochka kotoraya razbila kolenochku"] (which was actually a line from Katya's own poem).

In the afternoon Wanda Kashirin came and brought Katya a large sunflower (still Katya's favorite flower). Together they played with baby animals and the doll-house.
Katya has a dress with pants sewn to it. She likes to ask visitors to help her take the pants off and laughs happily when they fail. Wanda was one of the victims of this practical joke.

Later everyone went to Kleshchev's for the weekly Akathist reading. Katya played with Masha Kleshchev and her friend Maria, jumped on the trampoline and danced vigorously to a tune from "Madagaskar."
She proudly demonstrated the strength of her right hand by lifting a small dumbbell (she could only lift it up to her waist, but still, it was an achievement).
Her appetite was good too. She ate five of Ella's "tvorozhniki" (cottage-cheese pancakes).
Katya e.a. were having such a good time that nobody wanted to leave till very late.

Saturday, July 22
In the morning Sasha and Wanda Kashirin came with their dog Fifi. Fifi is a papillon (a dog so tiny that even Lizka is not scared of it) who is exceptionally well trained. She can even play on a toy piano.
Katya was very glad to see them and tried to entertain her guests by whatever means she had. She danced, used her right hand and walked along the rim of a hula-hoop.

When visitors left, Katya played with Lizka. Katya was a teacher and Lizka was her student. Katya gave Lizka an assignment to read her some Biblical stories. Lizka read and Katya listened attentively. She carefully corrected Lizka's pronunciation errors. Then Katya started teaching Lizka how to read some very long and difficult Russian words. (She is not at all interested in reading short and simple words that anyone can read.)

Lizka asked Katya whether she misses Mitka. Katya thought for a moment and replied "Yes, I miss Mitka, but even more than him I miss Linda [Lizka's next door neighbor]." "Why?" asked Lizka in surprise. "Because I have not seen her for a multitude [mnozhestvo] of days," said Katya. "Should I bring her to you next time?" asked Lizka. "I am not sure," said Katya, "I do want to see her, but since I haven't seen her for a long time, I am afraid I will be too shy to enjoy her visit."

Late in the evening, Carlo and Helena, Masha and Sasha's friends from Italy, arrived. They will stay in Eugene for several days.

Sunday, July 23
In church Katya vomited just before Eucharist. All the pills and food she took came out.
After that she was alright and in a good mood. However, in the afternoon, soon after she took a new portion of medications, Katya threw everything up again.
These events did not upset Katya at all. She just said that she would have to eat again.
The diarrhea arrived as well. It is a standard side effect of Katya's new treatment and hopefully it will pass after a while.

In the afternoon the heat became unbearable. Katya's family and their Italian friends decided to escape to the Pacific coast and spend three days camping in the beautiful Honeyman State Park near Florence, Oregon.
Compared to the sizzling heat (103^oF) in Eugene, temperature on the coast was chilling 64^oF. However, the sun was bright and the sand was warm. While some of us swam in Clearwox lake (the water felt warmer than the air), a very happy Katya went on a little hike in the dunes with Natasha. Katya pretended that she was a dune-princess inspecting her new exciting realm. She sang hymns to the abundance of sand and to the clouds hurrying above her head.

Monday, July 24
After breakfast the campers went on a hike along the Hobbit trail. It was exactly what you would expect a good hobbit trail to be, a well hidden, tunnel-like path going through deep woods, with fantastic, moss-covered trees. It felt a little spooky and it was clearly leading to a magical place. Katya immediately fell in love with the trail and claimed that it was made especially for her as her house.
The trail indead led them to a magical place. When they reached it, Hobbit Beach was covered with mist and was a great place to explore and play.

Tuesday, July 25
In the morning the company went hiking in the dunes. There was a very strong wind and Katya got sand in her eyes. This hurt a lot and Katya said that she wanted to go home.
They folded their camp and decided to swim in the lake before going back to Eugene.

Meanwhile, a great surprise was being prepared for Katya.
Yesterday, Katya's grandmother Lyusya came from Moscow. In the afternoon Arkasha took her and Natasha, Masha's mother, to Honeyman park for a rendezvous with Katya and the rest of the camping party.

Katya did not know anything about Lyusya's planned visit and was caught completely off guard when she saw her. At first she was speechless. Then her stunned look was replaced by one of pure joy. After this brief display of emotions, Katya composed herself and calmly turned to Carlo and Helena.
"These are my two grandmas," she said. "This is Lyusya, Papa's mom. She lives in Moscow. And this is Natasha, Mama's mom. She also lives in Moscow, but now she lives in Eugene."

After a good swim in the warm lake the company returned to Eugene.

After a dinner at Julia's house the girls put up a short concert. Then Anya, Lizka and the Italian guests started playing King (a card game) and Katya, not that much interested in obeying rules, continued with the entertainment program.
She recited "Song of Oleg" for the grandmas and then "read" to them several fairy tales with her own additions and comments. After that Katya pulled out colored pencils and asked grandmas to give her words to write and draw pictures about. She was interested only in long and difficult words, since she finds short words dull and uninspiring. The greatest hit was "Brazil" (Braziliya in Russian, i.e. much longer) which Katya illustrated with pictures of ships, jaguars and armadillos, exactly as they are mentioned in the very popular Russian children's song "I've never sailed the Amazon" (after Kipling's poem).

Despite a rough start, this was a very good day full of excitement and fun.
Medically speaking Katya was doing quite well for the last two days. She did not vomit or feel nausea which is probably due to Zofran.

Wednesday, July 26
We did not give Katya Zofran in the morning to check whether it was the drug and not just homeopathy that was stopping nausea. Well, Katya duly vomited to give us proof that the new homeopathy does not work by itself. We will have to change homeopathy (and stick to Zofran for now).

Katya had a blood work done today. All counts turned out OK.

Katya wanted to refresh her "Thai heritage", so the whole company went for lunch to Katya's favorite Thai restaurant.
From there they went to Borders' to get food for thought (and to take Koraku). Katya got interested in a musical book with a built-in piano. She played various melodies for Carlo and Helena and at the same time tuned herself up for Koraku.

The heat was down significantly so the company decided to spend afternoon outside. They went to the UO campus with Carlo and Helena and had some fun there.

In the evening Katya watched "Mulan" with her dear friends.
Then she took Koraku from Helena and Anya with additional help provided by Tom and Jerry.

Thursday, July 27
Today the company went on a hike to Mt. Pisgah. At the last moment Katya decided that even though she was well equipped, she did not want all this sun on the way up.
Instead, she and Sasha walked and played in the shadowy Mount Pisgah Arboretum.
After the hike everyone enjoyed a swim in the Willamette River. Katya was a "very dangerous Katya-fish" and Carlo and Helena were very scared as she chased and tried to swallow them. After the swim Katya again became a "tame little girl."

When Carlo and Helena just arrived, Katya felt more at home with Helena. But by today she completely overcame her shyness with Carlo. She felt quite comfortable with him.

Friday, July 28.
In the morning everyone went to the Rose Garden to enjoy flowers. Katya herself looked like a beautiful flower and so it was almost impossible to find her among the bushes when they played her favorite hide-and-seek in the roses game. But Helena was very smart. She went on smelling all the flowers in the garden. When she got near Katya, she figured out that such wonderful fragrance may only be coming from the very best flower. And this is how Katya was found. In the evening came the sad moment of saying goodbye to Carlo and Helena. Katya put on her princessy outfit and presented them with her parting gifts.
To Carlo she gave a crystal cube with a boy, a girl and a heart in it and a "I love you" sign. We were all amazed since this was one of Katya's most treasured things. Well, love is love.
For Helena she has chosen a very special sunflower decoration. Sunflower is still Katya's favorite flower and she was delighted to see that Helena put it on her hair like a crown exactly as Katya herself used to do.

When Carlo and Helena were getting into their car, Katya finally cast away her shyness about using Italian and shouted "Ciao!!!"

Sunday, July 30
At church today Katya sat through the whole service listening attentively. During Father David's sermon, she asked Julia to translate what he was saying. When Katya found out that he was talking about an Evangelical story she has known for a long time, she asked Julia to stop translating because there was nothing new for her there.
Still, this disappointment did not prevent Katya from enjoying a ride on Father David's shoulders.

After trapeza Katya and Masha watched a volleyball game. While rooting for the team on which Michael (18 year-old son of F. David) played, they had a very interesting conversation:

K.: Mama, why boys don't like me?
M.: What do you mean - boys do like you. Andryusha, Vanya, ...
K.: [Interrupting] No, I don't mean small boys - I mean big boys.
M.: Big boys too. Take Mitka ...
K.: No, Mitka is a cousin, he does not count.
But take Michael, for example, he does not even notice me, never looks in my direction.
M.: Well, this is probably because he is too shy to talk to you since you were not properly introduced.
(This is the reason Katya usually gives when asked why she does not talk to a certain person.)
But this can be helped.

After the game, Masha came to Michael with Katya and "introduced" them very "properly." Immediately Michael started recognizing Katya and soon they became friends. He even gave Katya and Masha very special hats.

After church Katya and Co were in the artistic mood. So they went to the Potter's Quarter at Oakway Plaza where they painted clay figures and cups. Later the store will fire the pottery and make them into real pieces of art.

Back at home Katya had another interesting conversation. This time it was with Natasha.

K.: Let us play that I am a fish and you a fisherman.
N.: Then I will catch you. Here, you are in my net.
K.: Oh, Fisherman, please let me go! I will fulfill any wish of yours.
N.: But what should I wish for?
K.: Let me think. Are you married?
N.: No.
K.: So. I wish that I give you a good husband. [Pause] What kind of husband would you like?
N.: I don't know.
K.: Do you want an emperor or a baron?
N.: A baron would do.
K.: But emperors are better.
N.: Why?
K: Oh, don't you understand ?? ...

Monday, July 31
Today Katya and Masha decided to clean up and rearrange Katya's toys.
Suddenly, Katya started setting aside lots of toys and books, including some of her recent favorites, to be given away. When Masha expressed her surprise, Katya gave the following explanation.
"Lizka has very few toys so she might be unhappy and offended when she comes here and sees that I have so many." But there is nothing to worry about yet. Katya still has plenty of toys to play with.

Later Katya, Anya and Lyusya went for a walk. They stopped to play at a playground where the girls had an engaging conversation.
Then they continued to Lizka's house and, after playing there for a short while, returned home with Lizka. They also brought a new batch of the Pink Panther cartoons to help with Koraku.

Tuesday, August 1
In the morning the girls again met at the playground.
They enjoyed going up and also down.

In the afternoon Katya went to Lena, Ilya and Phillip Binder to meet the new member of their family, baby Andryusha (not to be confused with Andryusha Kleshchev). Katya was enthralled with the baby and spent a lot of time watching and caressing him.

During a very tasty meal Masha asked her: "You seemed to really like the baby. Would you like such a baby for yourself?"
"No," said Katya, "I don't want such a baby. I want our baby!" [Takogo ne hochu, hochu nashego!]

Wednesday, August 2
Today was the day of the next Avastin/Irinotecan infusion at Doernbecker (OHSU) Children's hospital.
The infusion went well, but immediately after it Katya started having a very rapid breathing (40-45 times per minute). She was given a high dose of Decadron (8 mg) in case there was some internal swelling, but nothing changed. So Dr. Nicholson recommended staying at the Doernbecker overnight.

Unlike our previous experience with Decadron, this time it did not make Katya aggressive. She did have some mood swings, but they were relatively easy to control by taking Katya to the playroom, reading books to her or letting her paint with her hands. At one point, this poor girl, panting hard and stuffed with steroids, said to Anya: "I know that this is not good, but I want to bite you. I cannot help it. Do you mind if I bite you just a little bit? Please!"
What a sweet child!

Thursday, August 3
In the morning Katya woke up in a bad mood. She cried that she did not want to be in the hospital and demanded that they go home right away. Then agreed to watch the "101 Dalmatians" movie (non-animated) first.
Katya enjoyed the movie. However she complained that the bad guys did not look as bad and frightening as in the Disney animated version.
Just as the movie ended, a volunteer helper walked into Katya's room with a cat and a dog. The timing could not be better and Katya's day in the hospital was saved!

During the night Katya's breathing rate came down a bit, but in the morning it jumped back to 44 per minute.
Still, since there were no additional developments, Katya's condition was classified as stable and she was discharged.

On learning that she is free to go home, Katya decided to stay at the hospital a bit longer and explore its playground.
She also found a tricycle and had a great fun riding it along the hospital halls. Despite her rapid breathing and lack of mobility in the right hand and foot, Katya rode the trike with confidence. She skilfully maneuvered to avoid colliding with patients and doctors.
While they were still at OHSU, Sonya Pekelny, who happened to be in Portland, stopped by to check on Katya. Sonya was very impressed with the way Katya looked and behaved.

Soon after returning home, Katya had more visitors.
Brad Shelton came with Cleo and Katya was not afraid of Cleo at all. Katya gave Brad a souvenir, a special Chinese device for pinching noses. Brad tried to pinch various noses, Katya's, Cleo's, etc, but the only nose that was relatively easy (and safe) to pinch turned out to be his own.

Friday, August 4
In the morning Katya's breathing rate was in the 30s and by afternoon it got down to normal. We hope that there will be no more surprises at the next infusion. To avoid potential problems, Avastin infusion will be done at a slower rate.

When Katya came to her weekly osteopathic treatment, the doctor said that her energy was blocked at the heart level. He said that this might be related to her rapid breathing. When he touched sleeping Katya to unblock the heart, Katya jolted as if from an electric shock.

Katya likes playing Gobblet with Natasha and Lyusya. This game is similar to tic-tac-toe except that you can gobble your opponent's pieces. With so much practice, Katya got simply unbeatable. After another loss, awestruck Lyusya told her: "Katya, you are playing simply colossally!"
K.: What does it mean, colossal?
L.: Well, it is something like great or majestic.
K.: And can you say "empresstic" [imperatritskij] instead? [by analogy: (Your) majesty - empress]
L.: ...

And thus a few new words were added to our family vocabulary courtesy of our little majesty.

In the afternoon during the weekly Akathist reading Katya jumped on the trampoline with little Stacy Masakov. She was glad to be the oldest child on the trampoline. She did not even mind when Sasha showed up to give Koraku. Moreover, she gave Sasha a job. He was to prevent bigger children from climbing on the trampoline.
Little Stacy and Katya became good friends and played very well together.


Saturday, August 5
Natasha is going to San Francisco for a week. She came to say goodbye to Katya.
N.: What kind of present would you like from San Francisco?
K.: Bring me something red. [pause] But, please, only not another Chinese dress. They are all too tight. [pause] You know what? Bring me a Chinese ball which is square and red ...

In order to make Katya and Anya pirate games more diverse, Katya created a list of acceptable names for her. Here are some popular ones: a madcap (sorvi-golova or Casse-Cou), a silly head, darling (golubchik) and a one-eyed girl (odnoglazka).

Katya's fairy tales are getting more and more sophisticated.
Here's the one she told us today:

Once upon a time, there was a magic tree with berries of two different kinds. Yes, on the same branch there were strawberries and cherries. And they were full of magic.
Well, Anya came and started eating the berries from one of the branches of the tree. No matter how hard she tried, there was never an end to the berries. Finally Anya could not eat any more berries and died (because of the magic in the berries). Then the same sad thing happened to Arkasha, and then to Masha, Lyusya, Natasha, Julia, Sasha and Lizka. Finally, the smart girl, Katya, came to the magic tree and started eating berries from the same branch. She ate and ate and ate and ate and, when she could not eat anymore, she went on eating anyway. And - lo and behold - there came a moment when no more berries were left on the branch - Katya ate them all! And she lived and was full of magic!

Sunday, August 6
At the churchyard today, when everyone was eating grilled sausages with chips and other junk food, Katya complained that because of her illness she could not eat what normal people eat. Sasha took pity on her and brought her a plate of "common" food. Katya looked at it, sighed and turned away without touching it. It's either she has been thoroughly contaminated with the "healthy food" or she just wants to be tempted and resist temptation.



After church Katya came to play with Lizka and Anya. They decorated Lizka's back yard with traffic signs and rode their bike, trikes and tractors strictly following the rules. Then Katya did some soap bubbles magic and enchanted Julia and Arkasha. As a result they failed to notice when Katya and Anya kidnapped Lizka and took her to their house.

In the evening, when Julia and Arkasha came to Katya's house to rescue Lizka, it turned out to be a rather difficult task. Both Katya and Lizka became respectable ladies, well off, but not exceedingly wealthy. Katya was a widow of a rich merchant who was killed in a war. She was raising two adorable children and needed Lizka's help badly. So she simply could not let Lizka go home. In the end we had to bribe Katya. We told her stories and listened while she was reading from old Julia's books about Barnabe and Katya.

In spite of her great passion for books, it gets increasingly harder to find what to read to Katya. She knows all her old books by heart and is not so fond of new books. (She still likes to listen to books on tapes in the car.) So these Julia's books with large letters and familiar stories and a few other books that Katya likes to read for herself are the only ones we can always count on in case of need.

Luckily, Katya has been such a sweet girl lately. Even Koraku can be given quickly and without problems if you happen to strike the right note (or have good negotiating skills).

Monday, August 7
Katya started her morning with her usual domestic activities. She read with Lyusya, painted with Masha, made scientific experiments using magic markers with Anya and played with Barbies and the railroad by herself.

After lunch she watched Chaplin's "Circus" for a while. Then (probably inspired by Merna in the movie) she "ran away from home" with Anya. They ended up on a nearby playground where they sneaked onto a ship. Katya was a captain and Anya was responsible for their food. She picked plums and blackberries growing along the shores.

In the evening Lizka came for sleepover. She helped Katya watch "Donkey Skin" and take Koraku.

Tuesday, August 8
When Katya wakes up in the morning or in the middle of the night, she usually ends up in her parents' bed.
This time it was different. Katya found Lizka sleeping on the floor and decided to spend the rest of the night with her. (Because, as she put it, Lizka felt very cold.)

All morning the girls played their current favorite game, "The grownups." This time Anya was the owner of a fancy shop, Katya was a very rich lady who bought lots of important and necessary things, such as a live cheetah, two statues and several paintings from Anya, and Lizka was just a poor girl who could buy nothing and whose only hope in life was to find a rich husband.

After a very intense match of the Blokus Game, Katya and Lizka watched cartoons about a bear and a hedgehog that Lyusya brought from Moscow. They loved these cute cartoons after S.Kozlov's stories, especially the one about a remarkable barrel. Then Katya "read" Lizka and Anya several poems from the book "My Fantazealand" [Moya Voobraziliya] by Boris Zakhoder.
Katya took the name of the book literally. After reading the title of each poem, she imagined the rest without consulting the text.

In the afternoon the girls went to Tugman park. Katya felt adventurous and for some time was going up and down the slide all by herself. Then she joined Lizka who was building sand castles and started making "sand angels."
This caused a little aesthetic conflict and Julia was called with a peace-making mission. She brought her new poem and Katya started reading it right away.

Wednesday, August 9
After breakfast Katya spent some time working with play-dough and then went for a workout at the playground near Lizka's school.

In the afternoon Julia brought her new poem about Katya and Katya decided to give a full demonstration of her reading methodology.
First she slowly read the first line of the poem. Then she repeated the first line again, but this time much faster. Then she read the second line (slowly again). After that she repeated the first and the second lines faster. Then comes the third line (slowly). Then the first three together (faster). And so on. Katya is very thorough and persistent and by the end of such exercise she usually knows the text by heart.
Katya continues to enjoy long words and funny word-combinations. She is quite a linguist.

And here are some of Katya's new poems:

1.
	Devochka, devochka,		Girly, girly,
	Chto ty za penochka,		You are a pearly,
	Ved' ty ne mozhesh' stoyat'.		You cannot really stand.
	No odin raz mamulya		But once mommy went out
	Poshla pogulyat'.		To wander about.
	Ty odna zhe i doma ostan'sya opyat'.		And you're home alone again.
	No znaesh' opyat'? ---		But you know again?
	Ne znayu opyat'.		I don't know again.
	Chto sbudetsya opyat'		What will come true again
	Ne mozhesh' opyat'		You cannot again
	Uvidet' opyat'		Cannot see again
	Ved' opyat'		Because again
	Zhit' opyat' i opyat' i opyat'.		To live again and again and again.
2.
	Podsolnukhi, podsolnukhi,		Sunflowers, sunflowers,
	Chto vy za moroziki!		What little frosts are you!
	No nasha mamochka podsolnukh		But our mommy is such a sunflower
	Da ne glaza otvedesh' ot nego.		That one cannot take eyes away from her.
	Dal'she odin raz opyat' i opyat'		Then one time again and again
	Povtoryaj etot stikh opyat' i opyat'		Repeat this poem again and again
	Skazka opyat' ne muchaj opyat'		A story again don't torment again
	No opyat' i opyat'		But again and again
	Chto zhe skazka		What about the story
	Esli morgaska?		If it is a winkory?
	No vse opyat'		But everything again
	Zhit' nam opyat'.		We are to live again.
3.
	Glazki ne morgaski		The eyes are not winkeyes
	Nosik ne morgosik		The nose is not a winkose
	Nasha nemolaska		Our noblinky...
	Nasha nemogaska		Our nowinky
4.
	Ne nado segodnya		Please don't today
	Kraskoj morgat'		Wink with paint
	Ne nado uzh i zavtra		And tomorrow please don't
	Kraskoj morgat'		Wink with paint
	A vchera,		And yesterday
	Zachem ty ne mog		Why could not you
	Ostanovit'sya kushat' morozhenoe		Stop eating ice-cream
	Nekogda nashim		Our people are too busy
	Vse i opyat'		All and again
	(Povtoryaj 4 raza)		(Repeat 4 times)
	Ne nado segodnya		Please don't today
	Rvat' zhe tsvetochki		Pluck dear flowers
	Ne nado uzh i zavtra		And tomorrow please don't
	Rvat' zhe tsvetochki		Pluck flowers
	A vchera,		And yesterday,
	Zachem zhe ty kushal limon,		Why did you eat lemon,
	Nekogda nashim		Our people are too busy
	Vse i opyat'		All and again
	(Povtoryaj 4 raza)		(Repeat 4 times)
5.
	Mama odnazhdy kushla		Once Mama kwent
	S kuritsej vmeste kushla		With a chicken together she kwent
	Odnazhdy segodnya		Once today
	Opyat' i opyat'		Again and again
	Povtoryaj etot stikh		Repeat this poem
	Ne muchaj menya		Don't torture me
	Voobsche-to ne nado		But on the other hand don't
	Povtoryat' etot stikh		Repeat this poem
	On sam povtoryaetsya		It repeats itself
	Opyat' i oyat'		Again and again
	Do kontsa mira		Until the world ends
	On povtoryaetsya		It repeats itself
	Opyat' i opyat'		Again and again
6.
	Kuritsa bednaya nasha opyat'		Our poor chicke again
	Zalezla pod stol vse opyat' i opyat'		Climbed under the table and again and again
	No kosichki ee vse spuskayutsya vverkh		But her braids keep descending upwards
	Nosik ee ne mozozik ee		And her little nose is not her coldose
	I nasha opyat' skazhu vam opyat'		And our again I will tell you again
7.
	Zhil-byl starik		There lived an old man
	Nekogda zhit' emu bylo		Who did not have time to live
	Glazki ne morgaski		The eyes are not winkies
	Nosik ne morosik		The nose is not a coldose
	Roza tsvela		The rose bloomed
	Starik ne umer		The old man did not die
	No dal'she opyat'		But then again
	Skazhu vam poka		I'll tell you so long
	Do svidan'ya druz'ya		Good bye my friends
	Schastlivo---poka!		Good luck---so long!
8.
	Mama poshla pogulyat'		Mama went for a walk
	Ushla na veki vekov		She left for eternity (forevermore)
	Mama vernulas' domoj		Mama came back home
	Radujsya oba		Rejoyce both
	Ya i moya Sanechka		Me and my little Sanya
	No uzh papa uekhal na veki vekov		And yet Papa went away forevermore
	Vernulsya on		And back came he
	Radujsya troe		Rejoyce all three
	Ya, Mama, Sanya		Mama, Sanya and I
	I noch'yu opyat'		And at night again
	Nikto ne uekhal		Nobody has gone away
	No odnazhdy odin raz		But once upon a time one time
	Segodnya opyat'		Today again
	Skazhu vam poka!		I will tell you so long!
9.
	Kto znaet volshebnuyu silu tsvetka		Who knows the magic power of a flower
	Tot znaet volshebnuyu silu menya		Will know the magic power of me

In the evening Sonya came to visit. The whole company watched Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and saw Katya taking Koraku.

Thursday, August 10
In the morning Katya had her regular blood test. It went very well and the results turned out to be quite good too. Only iron (but not hemoglobin) is slightly lower so we will increase Katya's daily portion of pomegranate juice.

Back at home Katya played dress-up. She was very good as an old lady and simply stunning as a medieval bride.

Today was Lyusya's birthday. Katya gave her a very special yellow rose and sang her "Happy birthday" in three languages.

Katya wanted Lyusya to have her birthday party at a Thai restaurant. Since we've eaten quite a lot of Thai food lately, we tried to dissuade her arguing that there are many other exotic cultures and restaurants. But Katya was steadfast. The only amendment she accepted was to go to a different Thai restaurant (Ring of Fire).

On the way to restaurant Katya made a stop in the Rose Garden.

After dinner Katya kidnapped Arkasha so that he could watch "Beauty and the Beast" with her and see how she takes Koraku in less than one minute. It was truly amazing and probably Katya's record.

Last Updated November 2, 2006