Update

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

We all had a relaxing and uneventful holiday. Julia has remained well and she enjoyed her 3 week break from the hospital. She was at the hospital yesterday for clinic and bloodwork, and everything was great. After more than 3 weeks without clinic or bloodwork I was a little nervous to get the results, but all her bloodwork was perfect. Looks like 2011 has started on a good note. The only stressful news is that Julia will be having her knee surgery on Tuesday.....YES this Tuesday. I just found out yesterday and was completely shocked it is so soon. We met with doctors yesterday to discuss the surgery and more importantly pain management. Apparently the surgery and recovery is extremely painful. She will require major pain relief including morphine and a IV line in her leg to deliver constant narcotics to the surgery sight. She will be admitted Tuesday morning and the surgery will be at 8:00am. She will be in the OR for a minimum of 3 hours, than go to recovery and then be transferred to the ward. She is required to stay in hospital for awhile. The total recovery period is 6 weeks. I am extremely scared, nervous and worried. After the million procedures she's had I don't know why this one has me so scared. I think the length of time in the OR combined with the pain she will experience is putting me over the edge. I feel so bad for her, that she has to go through this. Like she hasn't had to deal with enough. Now that she feels well we are faced with another set back. She has no idea what is going to happen on Tuesday and Elio and I are struggling trying to decide how to deal with this. Do we prepare her or not? For those of you who know Julia telling her may make things worse, but not telling her makes me feel horrible. How do you explain to a 5 year old that she is about to experience one of the most painful surgeries and will not be mobile after it? Just writing about this is making me sick.

Once again I ask you all to say a prayer for Julia. We hope and pray for a smooth surgery and a speedy recovery. I will keep you all updated on how she is doing.

Thanks for your continued support.
Nadia