Ellie's Haircut

The big haircut happened on Wednesday, and as promised, here are some pictures.

To remind you of where she began, here is a picture of Ellie on the day we first went into the hospital, less than 2 months ago.

Ellie's hair was finally beginning to grow and get some fullness!

This is what it looked like before we got it cut on Wednesday.

I know, it's difficult to really see around the fairy wings,
but this is the only picture I have of the back of her head.

And yes, for those of you that have noticed,
the CAST production of Peter Pan Jr. runs daily in our home.

The following pictures, just before she got her hair cut, really show the "wispy-ness" of her hair.

She was being so goofy and had such a good attitude the entire time. 

At first, we tried for a short bob. I did not take a picture. Suffice it to say, it looked really bad. So, a pixie cut it is!

I was only able to get this perfect profile shot because
she was being spicy and refused to look at me.

Yes, Ellie's clothes are about to get infinitely cuter, and more bows/headbands will be purchased. But, we think she looks adorable! Her hair looks so much better now, and it just reminds me of when she was a baby. Since she is our last, I will gladly take this walk down memory lane. To be quite honest, one of my favorite areas to kiss my babies is on the back of their neck. Once they start growing in hair though, that goes away. So, the silver lining to Ellie losing her hair is that I get another chance to kiss that sweet spot. 

It will continue to thin out, and once she reaches the Delayed Intensification phase of treatment in August, it will likely all fall out. Another cut/shave is in her future, but for now, this will do just fine. 

Oh, and can I say that this has just kind of been a big pain. Honestly, I never really thought about it before, but aside from the emotions that go along with it, hair loss is just annoying. I feel like there is hair all over our house, and Ellie did not even have that much hair to begin with. So not only does Ellie's hair cut look better, but we also won't have to deal with stray hairs everywhere.

Ok. Now onto her recent treatments.

Ellie's third and final lumbar puncture for her Consolidation phase was yesterday, and all went well. She will not have another LP for several weeks. I am not exactly sure when it is, I just know that it is far enough away that I do not need to think about it right now. And that, is a good thing. The days are really quite easy, but goodness are they exhausting.

At the clinic waiting to see her doctor, before going to the day hospital for her LP.

At the day hospital getting vitals taken before having her port accessed.

Resting after her procedure.

After hospital days, I tend to find myself in a good old fashioned funk. Not sad or depressed...more like checked out. To combat that, last week and today I made plans with family and friends. This helped the following days go by immensely better. I will make an effort to continue this after any hospital visit as Ellie's treatment continues. 

Some good news is that we have all of next week off from hospital visits. Yay! Due to Memorial Day, Ellie will not go to physical therapy again until the following Monday, June 6th, and she does not have to go to the clinic until the 9th. No blood count checks or anything. We are hospital/doctor free for a whole 10 days! It's the little victories along the way that help. So, things may be quiet on the blog for a bit. In this case, no news is definitely good news. 

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and love for Ellie and our family. We are doing well, but most importantly, Ellie is doing well. She is responding so positively to everything, it almost doesn't seem possible. Especially for a 2 1/2 year old. Your prayers are working, so keep 'em coming!