My hair is slowly starting to come back along with my energy. I was driving to the store on Saturday and the way the sunlight hit my arm I noticed that I had little hairs growing there finally. I also noticed a little on my legs on Sunday. I still haven't noticed much where my eyebrows should be, so I am still having to draw them on. Overall I seem to be sleeping pretty well - I just seem to be staying up too late lately which causes me to want to sleep in too long in the mornings. I had some trouble falling asleep Sunday night for some reason but usually I don't have that problem lately. Yesterday I spent some time in the morning in our garden. My neighbor saw me out there and came to help. I'm hoping to get some things planted again this summer but it is going to take quite a bit of work to get the garden plot ready. Hopefully I will be up for it. Unfortunately MJ and Kay are not much help at their ages!! I was pretty exhausted after I fed the girls lunch so I laid down for a little while after I put MJ down for her nap.

Now that my treatments have stopped, except for the trial drug, I will not be posting as often - there's just not that much to blog about. My energy is slowly coming back, but still not quite up to normal. The hair on my head is also slowing coming back. Right now I am at the fuzzy stage. You can't really tell that I have hair though unless you look up close or feel it. I imagine it will be a good several months before it is long enough to do anything with (or to go out in public without a wig or hat on).

I did get the results back from my mammogram a couple of days ago and there was nothing abnormal that they were able to see in the images.

The girls looked beautiful in their Easter dresses today! I think that these were the fanciest and most involved dresses that I have done so far. I will be posting pictures of them on my family blog in the next day or two if you are interested in seeing them. It is nice to have them done and out of the way now so I can work on some other things! Church was kind of crazy for some reason today. MJ wouldn't go to nursery without me or DH staying with her and then Kay wouldn't sit still in sharing time and kept running back to sit with me and she kept having me take her out to the bathroom. During Sacrament Meeting, DH ended up taking MJ home because she wouldn't calm down and quit screaming! The 11-2 time slot can be hard with lunch time and nap time!

After church we went to my parents' house for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. We also had some cake and ice cream for my mom's birthday which was on Thursday. Now I'm ready for bed!

Hair update: The hair on my head is trying to come back, but it is definitely happening very slowly. Other than that my arms and legs are pretty smooth and hair-free still.

I was up until about 1 a.m. last night trying to finish up the dresses for the girls. I got two of them completely finished and then the last one was finished this evening. At least I don't have to do another late night tonight. After doing some cleaning this morning (and egg boiling), we decorated some Easter eggs after lunch and then I put MJ down for her nap. Then M&M and I went shoe shopping and we finally found some that she liked and that matched the Easter dress that we made her. The kids are super excited for Easter tomorrow!

Today is Kay's birthday! She is 4 today! After spending the morning baking the cake and wrapping some presents, I took the girls (minus MJ) shoe shopping after lunch. We were able to find shoes for those that needed them - except for some new Sunday shoes for M&M. I will have to take her out again tomorrow so we can hopefully get something for her to wear for Easter. After we got back from the store, I decorated Kay's cake and then we ordered pizza and my parents came over for dinner, presents and cake. I think I am finally getting some of my energy back.

We decided to take a picnic lunch with us to our hike and after taking forever to get everyone ready, we left for Ensign Peak. The weather was perfect today for the hike. Luckily we all brought a jacket or sweatshirt because it was cooler up at the start of the hike and definitely cool and windy at the top of the peak! I was definitely the weak link in the chain on our hike today! I had quite the struggle getting up the mountain because I felt so out of breath and light-headed at times! I had to stop every 50 feet or so to catch my breath! It was pretty pathetic! I was finally able to make it though and going down was no problem at all for me. Once we got back to the car we found a small park in the avenues to eat a picnic lunch at and then the kids played on the playground for quite a while and had a blast! It was an older playground with several toys that are considered "too dangerous" for the new playgrounds today... I rested a little after we returned home and then I spent part of the evening driving kids to and from soccer practices. I also was able to work on the Easter dresses some more. I am almost finished with all of them!

Had some more shopping to do this morning. It just is never ending with a family of 6 kids! I rested a little in the afternoon again. When DH came home from work yesterday he said that he was thinking of taking Thursday off of work to spend some time with the family since he has been having to work many late nights lately. He said that he would do it if he didn't have any important meetings scheduled and if we planned something to do (he didn't just want to sit around the house not doing anything). So I thought about it some and when he got home this evening I said that I thought we should take the kids and hike up Ensign Peak - it's something that we have never done before. I knew that with my blood counts still a little low I might have a hard(er) time making it up, but it is only a 1/2 mile up and 1/2 mile back down so I thought that I could do it. So after checking his schedule to make sure no meetings were scheduled, we decided to try it tomorrow morning.

This morning I took MJ with me and ran some errands and then after lunch I laid down for a nap. I was able to find some soccer cleats for Luke (since he has outgrown his). This evening I went with the rest of the Primary Presidency to visit a few families in the ward. After that I worked on the Easter dresses some before I went to bed (later than I should have).

This morning my dad came with me to my Avastin treatment. We got there right on time at 9 a.m. and after we checked in they took me back and accessed my port to draw my labs. We just sat there waiting for a while for my lab results to come back. After a little while my nurse for the day came to me and said that my blood levels were kind of low again and my doctor's nurse was offering to give me 2 units of blood if I wanted them. I was a little confused for a minute or two and asked if my levels were high enough to be treated. The nurse said yes, they were high enough and the other nurse was offering me the choice if I wanted it. After thinking for a minute I decided to decline the blood. She went back to the phone and told my doctor's nurse that I didn't want the blood and she came back with the response that if I was feeling really tired over the next day or two to call in and they would arrange for a blood transfusion. I asked the nurse for a copy of my lab results so I could look at them and she said she would print them out for me once they were all back from the lab. After some more waiting the nurse brought me the printout and I was surprised to note, after comparing it to last week's results, that my platelet count had gone up from last Wednesday, but my white and red blood cell counts had gone down slightly! I decided to call DH (who was working from home today while watching the kids for me) and we discussed whether I should get the blood transfusion. After talking it over for a few minutes we decided that if my levels were at critical levels, they wouldn't give me the option and my levels would be too low to receive the treatment. So I got off the phone with DH and then we sat there waiting again. A little while later the nurse came by and said that the head of the trial that I am on had called and given the okay to give me the infusion. So I guess at that point they put in the order for the Avastin to the pharmacy and then we had to wait and wait and wait some more before they finally got the drug from the pharmacy. They finally started my infusion more than 2 hours after I got there... The infusion itself lasted 30 minutes, then they had to flush the bag with saline solution and then we seemed to wait some more for no reason once again. The nurse finally came by with the flush for my port and finally was able to de-access me and send us on our way... We didn't leave until about 12:15! We were there for over 3 hours for a 30 minute infusion! While we were there I got a call from DH saying that he had received a call from work and things were not well and that he needed to get down there as soon as possible. Since Luke was home and my dad and I were hopefully going to be leaving soon, I told DH to just go and we would be there soon.

So my dad and I finally left for home and we got there and I had about 5 minutes before I had to leave for my mammogram which was at a different clinic. I sat with MJ for a few minutes and grabbed myself a quick snack to eat and then left my dad with the kids while I left. I got to the clinic just in time and I was surprised with how quickly everything went with the mammogram. I had to fill out a paper when I checked in and then they took me right back to change into a gown and then the technician took me back for the scans and then I was through. I was in and out of that clinic in about 15 minutes - it was awesome! And I didn't think that the mammogram was that bad at all. I would take that any day over doing a breast MRI or even going to the dentist!! The technician said that they would be sending the results of the mammogram to me and to my doctor as well.

After I got home from the mammogram I laid down for a few minutes and then I had to leave to drive the orchestra carpool for M&M and some of her friends from school. By the time I got home from that I was exhausted! Whew, what a busy day!!

More General Conference today. It's hard trying to keep the kids quiet and entertained while trying to watch the sessions. Thankfully MJ napped during the afternoon session so it was a little bit quieter. I have been able to do some hand sewing on the dresses while listening so I am getting closer to finishing. I just need to hand sew on the middle girls' dresses and then M&M's needs to be hemmed and I need to buy some ribbon for it.

After conference we went to my parents' for dinner. My sister's family was there as well and we had a good visit. I can't believe it is only one week until Easter! And Kay's birthday is this Friday! Man I have a lot to do this week to get ready for both!