I sit here tonight eating cheese balls (major comfort food) and drinking a glass of wine hoping and praying Ava's Benedryl kicks in soon so I don't have to run up the stairs for the fiftieth time tonight. Not only has her cast come to the point of being itchy it is compounded by her recent diagnosis of Fifth Disease. (For those who don't know Fifth Disease is a mild childhood illness caused by the human parovirus B19 that causes flu like symptoms followed by a rash.)Yep three days before her next hip surgery Ava comes down with this!! Really??!! Jack had Fifth Disease about three weeks ago, we thought we were in the clear but apparently it can take up to 21 days to come out. (Just our luck!) The rash started Saturday night and progressively got worse by Sunday. As we sat in Church Sunday morning Ava's cheeks became flame red and the lace like rash started on her arms, having just seen this a few weeks before we knew exactly what it was. For 24 hours we all were worried that this could affect her upcoming surgery. Once the rash comes out you are no longer contagious and on the mend. To be on the safe side we called Dr. A first thing this morning and we were told to see our Pediatrician and get medical clearance. At 4:30 this afternoon Ava saw Dr. K and we were reassured we could proceed as planned. Yeah!! Such a relief!! If this surgery was postponed they would had to commit me.
Tomorrow it will be five weeks since Ava's left hip surgery, looking at a calendar one could say "Wow! That went fast!", having lived it 24/7 I can tell you it has felt like 6 months. Ava has been amazing through it all. Yes she has had moments that I just wanted to walk out the door but overall she has been content. The worst of it has been at night. She has a hard time getting comfortable and often wakes up. There have been many nights that she ends up in bed with me and David gets the luxury of sleeping in her bed. I always feel bad for him on these nights unless Jack thinks he should be in our bed to. Those nights David's the lucky one, there isn't a kid waking up every 15 minutes and another practically laying on top of him the whole night. We've learned to keep Ava busy during the day, including the help of Jack. He does his part when Mommy or Daddy really needs to get things done around the house. Jack has been amazing through this whole ordeal and has grown so much. The Spica chair has been a life saver, I highly recommend one to anybody who has a child that has to go through this. Ava can eat better and do all her favorite activities with out problem. When I given Ava's diagnosis and told about the cast I could not imagine how we were going to do it. But amazingly enough here we are 5 weeks later doing it and almost half way there. Who would of thought we would have the capabilities and strength to do it, certainly not me. Here we are preparing for the second half of Ava's journey.
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| Ava after frosting her cupcake. |
Wednesday morning (July 18) Ava will have her right hip surgery. She is handling this news like a champ. She says "I will go to sleep with a pink cast and wake up with a purple one." There is no end to the bravery of this girl. I remember the feeling of seeing Ava in her cast for the first time, that sinking in my stomach, the sadness I felt for my baby and the thought of "How am I going to do this?" How quickly I learned it was doable and we made it through. This time we are better prepared for what is to come and in ways it makes it easier. I know Ava will do all she can to get through the upcoming weeks and I will continue to do what it takes to make it easier for her. Please pray for my Princess P on Wednesday. Pray the surgery goes as well as the previous one, pray for the strength each of us need to make it through and pray my girl has two healthy hips when all said and done. I know Ava will make it through with flying colors, My brave, brave girl! xoxoxo
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