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.
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