Botox Treatment

Yesterday, Alex received his first botox injection into the two most problematic muscles in his arm. The injections were painful, although he held his breath and only whimpered a little, and then the pain went away and he recovered. He was incredibly brave. We talked all morning about the process and when we arrived at the hospital, he was nervous but trying very hard to accept his fate. Alex's pediatric orthopedic surgeon is amazing and he is madly in love with her. She takes her time and explains everything she is doing to Alex so that there are no surprises. Alex's physical therapist was also there to examine the arm and agree with the surgeon on which muscles should be targeted.

They did a physical assessment of the arm before the treatments and then again about an hour later as he had a new cast made for his right arm. To our complete amazement, the botox had an almost immediate effect. By the time his new cast was made (which will restrict his right arm while the muscles in the left arm work and get stronger), his left arm demonstrated measurable changes. Alex has never been able to do a karate chop with lefty. But after the botox, which deadens the nerve endings of the muscles that were causing problems, he was able to do repeated karate chops. He was also able to cover his face with his hand and reach for things with less rigidity. I am excited to see what today brings, as it takes about 3 days for the nerves to completely die. Over the next three months, they will regenerate, and hopefully do so in a manner that will allow the hand and arm to function more properly. Even Alex noticed a difference last night when we were doing demos for Daddy.

Alex knows that he needs to work that left hand. He told me yesterday that it was so much work to make lefty do things. We have been talking a lot about work, and how important work is for getting where you want to go in life. The physical therapist touched on this as well. We'll see how working with the cast strengthens that left arm.