Letter of confirmation

Back to reality — 13 July 2014

Nothing like arriving back home and opening the mail to find Elsa’s letter of confirmation for her surgery from Starship.

Reading her letter of confirmation and the pre-admission letter brought back all those memories from first time round. However, this time it was met with a lot more trepidation. We have some idea of what we are getting ourselves into and what to expect, yet on the other hand we have no idea. Some say ignorance is bliss and I can’t help but agree as first time round we went into it so “green”.

Elsa will be five and a half years old going into this, not 20 months old. She understands so much more, she will be able to communicate her thoughts, fears, anxieties. She is going to put up one hell of a fight because she is not going to like this. We hope because she is so much older and so much more aware, we will be able to explain to her that this is going to stop her hip from hurting and that this is going to fix the problem. I just hope to god she believes us and that we are right.

Something I am really struggling with is what to expect afterwards. Yes, she will be in some some kind of splint or brace which can come off but what is this going to look like? How heavy is it going to be? How does it work? What is it made out of? I cannot find anything on the internet and this leaves me frustrated and ill prepared and I like to be as prepared as possible, it is in my nature. Surely someone has had this procedure done at Elsa’s age before? Surely there is some information about it somewhere? But no.

We do meet with a team of occupational therapists and physio therapists at pre-admission as well as after Elsa’s surgery and before we are even allowed to go home. However, if there is anything we need to plan for, we will only know about this the day before Elsa’s surgery. That leaves us with zero time.

I expect Elsa is going to be in a wheelchair in order to get around so what does this mean in terms of transporting her and getting her into and out of the house? Do we need to build a ramp our front door steps? What does this mean for when Elsa returns to school? Will I need to be her teacher aide? I need answers to my questions and I need them now.

So first thing tomorrow morning I will be ringing up and asking to speak to an occupational therapist because I need something between now and the 27th August 2014. Because ignorance is not bliss in this instance as we are not going into it “green” this time.