An End in Sight

Okay, so surgery is scheduled for May 19,2011. And emotionally, the Bug is DONE. She feels like she has no friends because she can not physically do the activities (monkey bars and balance beams) that they are all doing during recess.  One friend chose not to invite Bug to her birthday party this weekend which made her feel even more like an outcast. As an adult, I know that she will be fine. Her friends still like her.... but they are 6 and at 6 (or 7) it is hard to feel empathy for a classmate. It's not easy to explain this to a 6 year old. 

She had a saline fill 4 days ago.... and we had to wait for an hour in the room (our doc was on call so got busy). She did great playing and waiting for about 40 minutes. We had to wait an hour. By the time the doc came in she had been melting down for 20 minutes. Screaming that she was going home! Not having a fill! Broke my heart =( Good thing we brought daddy... he sat up on the table and she laid on his lap so the doc could insert another 19cc (ml) of fluid. I started a list to see where we are at... my amazing 6 year old has 224 cc of fluid in her tiny little shoulder. That's actually alot. And we noticed a couple weeks ago that the expander has turned. Weird, right? It is a rectangle, with rounded corners and it was longest from her neck to her shoulder and then it turned so the long part points from her chest to the top of her shoulder, diagonally.  I think it was her body's way of still allowing natural movement of her arm.
So, we go for one more fill this week and then is surgery. We'll see how many melt-downs we get between now and then... in the meantime, here is a pic of this last fill (oh, and she's had a haircut too...)  =)