But, this year.... Mum and Dad are not looking forward to Australia Day.
Because, two days later, I will be having surgery.
Again.
Last time I had surgery, it was to cut out the cancerous tumour in my liver.
The surgery took hours.
And before that, I had surgery for the insertion of my central line, for my chemotherapy treatments and also, a lung biopsy, to make sure the cancer was not in my lungs. Oh, and I had surgery to remove the central line.
And, when I was tiny, I had surgery on a groin hernia.
It doesn't seem fair.
This surgery is needed.
My leg is hurting me now. My knees are knocking together. It hurts to walk in my walking frame now and it hurts when I use my standing frame.
This is what my right leg looks like now:
I will have the muscle connecting my hip and leg released, in the hope my leg will then sit the way it should. If that works, I should be able to walk better in the frame and be without pain. This is called hip adductor surgery. It is not just something kids with cerebral palsy have to have, but many people with cerebral palsy need this.
If this surgery doesn't work, I will have to have more surgery to reshape my hip joint. Hopefully, I won't need this, because it will be more complex and painful.
After my surgery, I will be in two full leg casts, and I will have a pole between my knees, keeping them at the right angle.
We're not sure how well I will fit in the car. Hopefully, Mum and Dad will be able to put me in the car, even though my legs are spread apart. Hopefully I will fit in my car seat and hopefully, I will not have to sit in the middle of the backseat
(because my spread legs may be too wide for the side of the car.) If I have to sit
in the middle of the backseat, my sister and her seat won't fit in the car!
Hopefully, I will fit in my pram, even with my legs in the spread position.
If I don't, we will be stuck at home for 6-8 weeks!
Hopefully, I will fit in my old highchair!
I won't be able to swim, even though the weather will be hot and perfect for swimming. That means my sister might not get to go swimming, either.
And, I won't be able to have a bath or a shower... so, I will smell!
I won't be able to a lot of the things I do at the moment.
I need this surgery, but it is going to be a very long 6-8 weeks recovery time.
After the recovery time, my legs will have lost all the muscle tone I've fought so hard to build up! They will be skinny and bony. They will look like 'cerebral palsy' legs, and this makes Mum and Dad feel sad.
11 days to go...