Go long!

I feel like I've been here before....
Yes, I know. "Tim, you WERE here before! Remember, last year when they took that screw out of Emily's hip? Or the year before when you were down for her Superhip? Oh! What about..." I got it. I GOT IT. Thank you. The point is, Emily is on the operating table right now, I haven't slept enough, the waiting room is crowded, I don't have a good intro and, if not for my headphones blocking out Al Roker's discussion about prom season, there might be an incident requiring police involvement. But other than that, I'm perfect!
Before we get into this, let's do a quick recap...
Remember that fundraiser Shoreline Crossfit put together for Emily? Well, big doesn't even begin to do it justice. It was MASSIVE. One of the most amazing and emotional days I've ever been a part of and that is not an overstatement. Daddy even competed against the big dogs and achieved his goal of not finishing last. Something tells me you won't see that on a Nike t-shirt anytime soon.
It wasn't long after we wrapped that event up that it was time to head south. Yesterday we spent a good portion of the day taking care of Emily's pre-op appointments. She had a brief moment of apprehension when they wanted to draw her blood (completely fair) but held it together like a champ. The promise of cotton candy AND a little time at the beach seemed to lighten the mood.
Then it was off to the waiting room to wait for a brief evaluation of her X-rays. My man Servando came in and gave us the rundown. The discrepancy is currently 10.5 cm and the goal for this lengthening will be six to eight cm. (Ok, can I have a moment here? I'll admit it. Last August when we found out her growth plates are still open, there was a small part of me that really thought this discrepancy wasn't going to get bigger. It was approximately eight cm, it had been approximately eight cm and now we're going to go for this first lengthening, knock out eight cm and be done with this whole damn thing. That is not the case, nor was it ever the case. But I made the mistake of allowing ignorance and optimism cloud my better judgement. The lesson as always, I'm an idiot.)
Anyway, the nuts and bolts of this process remain the same. Three to four days in the hospital as she recovers from the implantation of the fixator. PT to start almost immediately and will eventually move to three sessions per day. Pin turns four times a day (this is how the bone is lengthened.) Pin site cleanings once a day and 10 days before we can throw her in the ocean (salt water is good for the pin sites.)
And, as of this moment, she is on the operating table and Paley is working his magic. Candace, Paley's patient advocate, is coming out to give us updates and we're hearing things are going well.
I'd love to tell you which part of this is going to be unpleasant and which part won't be as bad, but if you're still reading you know that we've already established how smart I am. So I, uh, won't. Just know that every kid reacts differently to the lengthenings, the PT, the pin site cleanings...everything. It's a process. And we'll do the best we can.
Wi-fi is a bit spotty in here so none of the pictures I wanted to post are included. Hopefully, I'll be able to put up a separate post a little later chock full of big, bright, colorful pictures. In the meantime, check my facebook page if you want real-time updates. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to wrap this up later today.
Thanks to everyone for staying with us. We need all the help we can get.