The count down begins...

Today was a big day for us, the pre op visit with Dr. A for Ava's upcoming surgery....to me this made it all real after months of talking about it. I have to admit I was super anxious, this was it...the count down would begin. Last night I prepared Ava for her checkup. Her first question was "Do I get my cast tomorrow?" After reassuring her that this was just a checkup and to talk to Dr. A about the surgery she seemed fine. For the first time in months she climbed into bed with us, she was even slightly whimpering in her sleep. How could I kick her out? She was definitely nervous about today and needed to be close. We had a crazy morning doing errands. One of our stops was at Walmart, knowing the drill of the impending doctors appointment she convinced me to buy her, her 36th My Little Pony...I reminded her we usually get something after her appointment for being so good and brave. Her response "Of course I'm going to be good!" She hasn't disappointed us yet , so Cherry Pie was all hers. Next it was off to pick up daddy from work. Thankfully my friend Meg armed us with questions to ask. Quite frankly when I think about the surgery all I can do is cry, my mind was blank when I was trying to come up with a list.

Ava's appointment began with two more x rays and a quick exam to determine if one hip was worse then the other. Both hips are about the same so he decided the right hip would be operated on first. Dr. A began explaining how things would go...the needed to cut the femur and remove about a 1/2 inch of the bone, it will then be held together with a plate and pins so the bone will heal properly. By doing this it allows him to pull the ball down and  put it back in the socket with less pressure. Also the socket will be cleared of anything in the way and all ligaments, tendons and muscles will be stretched to allow the hip to be in the proper spot. After the Spica cast will be applied to keep everything in place while healing. The surgery will take approximately 4 hours and she will be in the hospital for 3 days. After 2 weeks Ava will have an x ray done to make sure all is healing well, if so 3-4 weeks later they will repeat the surgery on the left hip. I was very proud of myself today, I did not cry at all! I thought for sure I would be a mess but I did great. The biggest relief was finding out Ava would be casted in a sitting position. What??!! This is fantastic! It wipes out so many worries, we had been under the impression she would be in her cast straight legged. She will fit in her car seat, be able to sit in a stroller, be carried on our hip and sit up to play games or do crafts. This really changes how I view things. Don't get me wrong the next few months aren't going to be easy, I'm sure we'll have rough days but she will be way more portable then I originally thought. The next great news we learned was after the second surgery her cast may only be on for 6 weeks!! This is huge, he had originally told us a possible 2-3 months after. This makes a total of 3 months in a Spica cast opposed to 5 months....the light at the end of the tunnel is closer. Dr A even gave Ava a chance to ask questions...her only question "What color will my cast be?" Dr A's response "You look like a pink girl to me." Ding ding ding! We have a winner, pink it is! I think Dr A put Ava at such ease today that she was excited to tell Jack about the color of her cast and even asked at bedtime if tomorrow I could show her a picture of what it will look like.

Life can be challenging and overwhelming at times but I believe the easiest way to deal with it is to keep everything in perspective. The next few months will be rough but we are making a decision that will hopefully allow Ava to live her life without pain. It is a blip on a long road of life ahead of her. I have many close friends going through difficult times right now and unfortunately their ends may not be as happy as ours. My heart goes out to each and every one of them and pray for their strength and healing. Dr A has an extremely positive attitude about Ava's procedures and being that she is so healthy there is no reason for things not to go as planned. A year from now she will be healed and back to her normal activities. It's great to have such great resources these days with the Internet and facebook but sometimes you need to step back. I have been researching what is ahead of us and driving myself crazy. If you hear the worst then you begin to believe that is what will happen. I decided today I am going to approach this with the most positive attitude possible. I have faith that Ava can be that story of things going as planned and the story people read to have hope and faith. I'm sure the months ahead will be challenging and I'm sure many tears will be shed but my daughter is a fighter and will overcome this like no other with her sassy attitude. Tomorrow we will watch Ava dance in her first dance recital. I'm sure tears will be streaming down my face as I watch. From here on out it is one day at a time and all in perspective.



Ava's growing My Little Pony collection...I'm sure she'll have a 100 by the time this is over!