Fixator removal

     This morning I got a call from the anesthesia department to schedule the pre-op appointment for Amaya.  The woman was confirming that' we'd be there Monday at nine a.m. I said sure then told her we didn't know when the surgery was scheduled for. She said the seventeenth. I said, "oh, OK." thanked her then hung up. Then instantly I was filled with so many different emotions and thoughts. I was excited, happy, relieved, thrilled, worried, stressed, freaked out, overwhelmed, sad and a few others. My thoughts jumped from, "oh wow", to "oh, crap", to "I have so much to do," to "well at least she can walk for Halloween," to "that's too soon," to "I better tell Josh," to "what's Amaya going to say?" and "oh, man that's only a week away!" I took a deep breath then moved on.
     I sent Josh a text and he was just as surprised by the news but more stressed because he has several IEP's scheduled for that week (he's a special education teacher). We wrote back and forth a few times and then decided to talk later. At lunch he called and we decided that I should call and try to postpone the surgery since he has so many meetings the next two weeks. We wondered if we could get it the week of Halloween or the week after. I called Dr. Nelson's scheduler and asked her if we could postpone it by two weeks. She explained that she's already scheduling his surgeries into January of 2013.  She said he's very booked and that she had a hard time trying to schedule Amaya's removal at all. She said she asked Dr. Nelson what to do so they found a day where they could squeeze Amaya so she wouldn't have to wait so long. She said Dr. Nelson didn't want Amaya to wait until January or any longer to have it removed. She was very kind and helpful, but there was no chance of rescheduling it.
     When I picked up Amaya from school I told her teacher  and made plans for the next two weeks. When I told Amaya her first reaction was, "sweet! Uh, I'm nervous." Later she said she was excited for it to come off. And as we had to lock the bar into place we had a countdown of how many days she has to wear her fixator, lock her bar, go to therapy, etc. The countdown is helping her deal with her nerves and anxiety. She's looking forward to the removal. Tonight she had rough time with pain and took about an hour to fall asleep. Those times are helping me look forward to the removal. I'm very ready for her pain and discomfort to be over with.
   Although its almost two weeks since we saw Dr. Nelson and it'll be three weeks when the fixator comes off, it just seems so rushed and quick and we wished we had more time to prepare. Especially since Josh has so many scheduled meetings the next two weeks. But, like all things that come with life with a fixator you don't really get a say in it, but you just deal with it. And we are. But, please wish us luck, send us love, and prayers, and good thoughts and positive energy. Thank you all for your love, support, and encouragement. It's so nice to finally see that the end is near (very near!).