We are all set.
We are now hurtling toward Sidekick Sister's surgery. It will be March 13.
It feels kind of like getting ready to jump into a cold swimming pool. "Ummmm...do I really want to do this?" Hopefully we'll get acclimated to the post-surgery life quickly and it won't be as painful as I'm thinking. Numbness is rad.
To catch up those who are not caught up, Sidekick Sister has something called Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency. When I went in for the ultrasound after she'd been hanging out in my belly for 20 weeks, they told me that one of her legs was shorter than the other. I cried - which is ridiculous. My mother happens to have one leg which is shorter than the other (nothing genetic, just coincidental) - my smart, successful, happy, very good mother.
Anyhow, I worried quite a bit about my poor little girl with the poor short leg up until she turned one. Then I saw that this poor little girl was quite the fireball and had more spunk in her than many a bottle full of Tabasco. I started to forget that there was anything different about her at all. Sometimes I'd have to work hard to remember to keep up with contacting her doctor about when x-rays needed to happen.
It was pretty darned nice that stage of forgetting. But now it's time for the down and dirty. We'll move to Baltimore for 3 months while Sidekick Sister gets the surgery and follow up PT taken care of. By we I mean all of us minus spouse-who-will-be-flying-the-friendly-skies-most-weekends. It stinks folks. It just stinks and that's all I'll say about it.
For the surgery, the doctor will go in and break Sidekick Sister's femur. He'll put in a traction device that keeps the two halves of the femur separated. Then he'll turn the little lady back over to me. I'll turn the external fixation device a few times every day to keep the two halves of the femur from ever becoming one. I guess there are plenty of complications that can and, we have been told, will come up. What can I say but bring it on (bring it on gently I mean...please...real gentle).
So in a month this might become the diary of not just an overstressed mother, but a way totally overstressed mother. I hope we all get some good catharsis out of it.
3 comments:
I just love Sidekick Sister and her spunk! As difficult as it all sounds, at least you'll have this part behind you in a few months, and if you ever need Aunt Gretchen out there call me and I'll be on the next plane.
JessicaP, I'm so sorry to hear that you'll have to endure many stressful days ahead. In my mind, speaking as a mother, there is nothing worse than having your child hurt, sick, unhappy, etc. I know you and spouse-that-loves-all-that-is-dear-to-him have considered all the pros, cons, and whatifs with this surgery and I will pray for you, your little family and especially for your little girl. I hope that during the months you're in Baltimore you'll find time to keep us updated every now and again.
Sister and V. - thank you so much! You both make me so glad I write a blog (: And V. - I love, love, love that name for spouse-of-the-many-monikers. I think that one is the most apt.
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