Let the countdown begin

Easter Hat Parade Fun!

Harry liked the Parade. And his lollipop.

Loving it!

Happy 5th Birthday Will!

Although I have to drag myself out of a chocolate-induced coma to update my blog, we Bailey's had a egg-cellent Easter.

And talk about busy! Over the Easter 'break'. we:

• attended Katelyn's pre-op 'Family Meeting' at the Hospital (more on that later)
• sighed with relief that Will's first parent-teacher interview at Preschool went well
• oohed and aahed over the very clever Easter hats on show at the School Hat Parade
• celebrated Will's fifth birthday on Good Friday with a scrumptious breakie at Nan and Pa's and the family, a 4WD trip to the beach with Muz, Amanda and the kids and dinner at Kerri and Justin's that night (gosh, I love our family)
• mopped up vomit and diarrhoea (Katelyn)
• hosted one of our famous Pizza Parties with some of our neighbours
• installed brand new shelves in our bedroom and made-over the laundry with some built-in shelves and cupboards (never thought I'd be so joyous about joinery)
• mopped up more vomit and diarrhoea (Harrison)
• washed two cars and a very hairy dog (I think the Nissan went into shock)
• drunk w-a-y too much wine
• watched Will learn to ride his first training-wheel-free 'big boy' bike in one afternoon (he doesn't get that from me)
• forgot to do the groceries (and in fact, should be doing them now)

Kate's appointment went really well on the Thursday before Easter. It was basically a round-table discussion with the two surgeons, the paediatric registrar, the head clinical nurse, the physiotherapist and the occupational therapist.

We continue to be in awe of our beautiful little girl. She just lay quietly on the table as the doctors conducted their examination. And by 'examination', I mean they dislocated, and relocated, her hip, again and again. She didn't even cry; she merely winced and turned her head to look at me as I stroked her hair. It's fair to say she won the heart of everyone in the room. Such a brave little princess.

It was great to meet the other members of the team who will be helping us to care for Katelyn. They're all absolutely lovely and we have every confidence in their ability to everything they can to correct Katelyn's hip.

We're booked in at the Hospital for the morning of Monday 28 May 2012. Doctors Ho and Tewari will do the operation, which will be administered under anaesthetic. We won't know how long the operation will go for until it's over, although we're banking on about four hours. This is because the doctors won't know for sure what they'll need to do until Katelyn is on the operating table. It is likely that the procedure will include:

• an adductor tenotomy (a small cut will be made to a tendon near her groin to allow it to stretch enough for the doctor to do a reduction)
• an arthrogram (an X-ray with dye injected into the hip to learn more about its structure)
• an open reduction of her left hip (the doctors will surgically open the hip socket and put the femoral head – or the top of the thigh - back into the hip socket)
• a Salter osteotomy (the doctors will cut Katelyn's pelvic bone and will rotate the entire hip entire socket into a better position on top of her thigh-bone after they do the relocation)

We learned that when she wakes from the operation, Katelyn will be very cranky and upset, and will be in the full plaster cast from belly button to both feet. A lot of that crossness will have to do with the effects of the anaesthesia, and she will have an epidural to manage her pain for about three days. 

The whole team seems incredibly supportive; they will teach us how to change her nappies, bathe, lift and shift her position and will modify our pram and stroller while we're in the Hospital. Although she's a very petite little girl for her age, Katelyn will be really heavy when she's in the spica – she'll be pushing 20kg – so it's a good thing Grant and I have been doing so much weight-training!. The Hospital will also loan us a special spica chair so Katelyn can sit up to eat and play with us at home. Just not having to worry about the logistical stuff like the car seat and the stroller is a huge weight off my mind.

We also got the chance to meet another lovely family who have travelling the the DDH road for a number of years. The down-side of that is, though, that as we swapped stories and shared tips and tears, we also found out that it's very likely Katelyn has always been in pain from her condition. The Mum let slip that after her (now seven year old) daughter had her first operation to fix her hip, she became a much happier little girl because she wasn't in pain any more. It was one of of those heart-plummeting, breath-taking, sick-feeling 'oh, f*&k' moments. I think if the nurse who was there at the time could have pressed a mute button so we didn't hear that, she would have. Having said that, even though we were initially reassured that Katelyn wouldn't currently feel pain from her condition, its spectre has been lurking in the deepest, darkest places of our minds since her diagnosis. And at least now we know we're making the right decision.

I think we're all starting to feel more prepared, physically, mentally and emotionally, for the start of our own DDH journey. Let the countdown begin.