Amaya's Journey with PFFD: Heading into our fourth surgery

Tomorrow Amaya will have her fourth surgery in three years. Of the four this will be the easiest and quickest one. But as she's gotten older this one has worried her the most and put added stress and worry onto our shoulders. After all, as her parents we want to spare her any unnecessary pain or stress. And although the surgery was unavoidable the stress was, or we hoped it was. The past few weeks Amaya has had a countdown to the surgery. It's added stress and worry to her plate. With the previous surgeries she knew they were coming but didn't have a time reference for when exactly they would be. And since she didn't, she didn't worry about them. Also the pain and discomfort associated with the other surgeries gave her something extra to worry about for this one. She was full of questions and wonder. Would it hurt as much? Would she stay in the hospital? If so, for how long? She was full of a mix of questions and knowledge. She knew what to expect: some pain and discomfort, a much dreaded IV, the groggy yucky feeling after anesthesia, etc. This past Saturday I heard her moaning in bed. When I went in she was in tears. She explained all her fears for this upcoming surgery to me. Fighting back tears I explained to her what would happen. I talked her through moment by moment what to expect and how this one would be different from the rest. I showed her the scar from where the rod was put in and reminded her that that's where it will come out from. The scar is about an inch long. Its small size seemed to comfort her a bit. After a few minutes she recuperated and moved on (easier than I did). But, it was a very rough way to start the day.
We kept the weekend and the start of this week busy and fun for the girls hoping to distract Amaya as much as possible. But at the end of each day she let us know just how many days were left before her surgery, "four more days," "it's in less than a week," "one more day, etc." Saturday we went to the beach with friends and camped over night. On Sunday the girls boogie boarded and tried surfing for the first time. Monday and Tuesday the girls played with their cousins. Today I got off work early to spend extra time with the girls. We went to see Planes where I happily received cuddles from both girls, then we had ice cream, got the mail (they were hoping Ghostbusters arrived in the mail). And it did! Then we all had yummy food, watched Ghostbusters, played, made a late night run for Slurpee's, then gave both girls showers. Amaya said, "This is a really fun day! Thank for making me special." It's been a fun, relaxing afternoon. I reminded the girls that school starts in two weeks for them. Amaya said that she's more nervous about that than her surgery now. I was pleasantly surprised. She said that now "I just want to get it over with. My hip won't hurt anymore, so it'll help me. And after this I get a break from surgeries for a couple years." Wow, I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that. After so much worry, pain and heartache I was happy to hear her say that.
We're letting her stay up late tonight eating as much as she wants so that she can sleep in tomorrow and not be so hungry in the morning. Our check in time is set for 11:30, but we still have to register, meet with the anesthesiologist and get her ready. So that should take at least an hour.
When I was taking Lidie down to get ready for bed she said "I have to be all alone tomorrow. I don't get to be with you or dad or Amaya." Surgery days are hard for each of us both individually and as a family. Sometimes I think Lidie has it worst, because she's away from us and has to deal with things alone. I reminded her that the rod removal should be quick in comparison to the previous surgeries and that Amaya won't be staying overnight. She was happy and a bit comforted but as I tucked her in, she asked if I could sleep in her bed tonight so that she wouldn't be alone tonight too. My sweet girl, I'll be cuddling her all night. And Josh will be cuddling Amaya.
Thank you all for your emails, calls, texts, gifts and support. They mean so much to us. I'm left speechless and teary eyed thinking of all the love and support we receive. Thank you.

Amaya got a pillow pet and card form a "fixator friend" Caelan. She loves it! She's going to bring it along tomorrow to cushion her hip especially on her way home.