Discussions that mention botox

Cerebral Palsy board

My son was 4 when he had his bilateral tendon lengthening. It was a horrible expirence for us with a very long and difficult recovery. He had just begun standing and taking steps when we had the surgery done. He had major muscle spasms during the recovery. After the 10 weeks in full length casts, he was unwilling to even bare weight. It took about 8 months to get him back to even where he was pre-surgery. He is now almost 9 years old and needs more intervention. We are currently trying a dynasplint post Botox to achieve dorsiflexion. I will mention that he also had lengthening and reroutment surgeries on his arm to decrease contractures, and we ran into the same painful recovery process as we did with the legs, so perhaps it is just how his body "reacts"

He has spastic triplegia and is ambulatory with assistance. He typically uses a reverse walker (we are trying really hard to transition to an arm crutch) for short distances and a wheelchair for long distances.
[QUOTE=elfie1;3205827]:angel: I think Pinkmom's surgery was a while back. wlmar, I have a 16 year old who went through the gastroc releases, hamstring lengthenings, and more. The main thing I would caution you to be aware of is the pain. The docs down at AI are wonderful, but didn't prepare me for my daughter's pain immediately following her first surgery (she was 4 1/2). The second set of releases was done with an osteotomy I think it is called, a really major surgery of the femur which rotates the bone to compensate for foot inturning. Both surgeries resulted in amazing absolutely amazing increases in function and appearance. At four she began to walk with her heels touching the ground and developed a spunky attitude and told us to forget about her ever wearing MAFOs again. After all, why had she gone through all that if she still had to wear MAFOs. The second surgery at age 10 corrected her inturning legs and she was able to ride a bike. And being prepared for the pain (both of us at that age) made the difficulty seem like it had an end.

Good luck with your son's surgery. I wonder if anyone can talk to me about the emotional difficulties of adolescence for kids with milder CP. She has really given up on a lot it seems and hates modifications at school. She is a twin and her twin has her own set of special needs so my life has been so complicated I fear I have not given her all the emotional support she needs though I have tried to be honest and caring and she does know that. I worry about her being able to live independently. Yes she walks, talks, reads, etc., but she is pretty clumbsy with her hands, has had enough trouble with learning to drive (adaptive lessons with left foot gas pedal), takes an eternity to do anything.

My son, also a twin, is now 3 years old. He is finally using a walker. His diagnosis is CP Diplegia, but it is more quad because all limbs are involved. His left side more than his right. He can feed himself, but I help him alot because of the mess and time constraints. He mainly drinks from a bottle because I need to push fluids so he doesn't get constipated, but he will drink with a straw too. I want to get him to use a sippy cup. I'm not sure if he will need all of these surgeries. I'm really hoping not because he is getting botox every three months, has p.t. twice a week, o.t. once a week and of course speech now. I work so hard with him. His twin doesn't have cp, but just delayed in his speech. I know it is important to work with him as much as possible because he is young, and the muscles are easier to manipulate. I do things with the older kids. It is just so hard because hubby is deployed again. Where there is a will, there is a way. You have done it, and so have so many other great parents on this message board or throughout the world. Everyday helping their loved one progress. I'm so glad I found this message board. I can't say it enough. Thankssssss for reading........