So after a few days home we headed to Kansas. Guys, Eva is such a tough girl. She did so well with everything-again. She did have some anxiety when she woke up after Botox and her momma wasn't there, but once we were reunited she was happy and asking to go shopping. Seriously.
Here's drunk Eva just before they wheeled her back for injections.
And she insisted on bringing Amigo. He has a better side.
We also bumped into another AMC family who lives about two hours from us. We chatted some and realized we had some mutual friends. The AMC world is very small. This family is considering adoption. Neat, right?
So, the layman's Botox breakdown:
August
The biggest change we noticed nearly immediately was a vast improvement in Eva's voice volume and projection. This was a fringe benefit that has made Eva such a better communicator which in turn decreases meltdowns due to communication challenges.
Eva's feet also relaxed a lot. Before Botox, she would really flex her big toes a lot for stability. This made stretching hard and getting her foot into her AFO challenging. No longer an issue. Now she's an easy stretch and getting her AFOs on is easy.
Eva's knees and elbows gained range. I will have to get data and post later. But I can tell a huge difference in dressing her. She used to cry about once a week when I took off her shirt/dress/sweater. Now she has improved mobility in her shoulders and I can dress her easily with no tears.
Also, after August Botox, Eva began to practice standing propping her arms onto a mat, without her stander.
December
I immediately noticed post-injections that Eva's legs can now lie together without strain. For example, when I put her in her car seat, her legs used to spread out a lot and I'd have to reign them in to get her in a better position. Now her legs are positioned more anatomically correct, and it's much easier to get her in and out of her carseat. This also means that when Eva is in a shopping cart (one of her favorite places to be) or in a stroller, I don't have to worry about a passerby hitting one of her legs. This used to be a real issue. Eva's legs would spread out in a "V" really wide and people would bump into a foot, causing her stress and pain. Now she's a safe rider:)
We can tell a big difference in Eva's ankle position too. Eva has ballet feet, where her toes point downward and are plantar flexed. Following this last injection, with minimal stretching, we can break up this pattern and get her feet into a much better position, nearly neutral. Eva will be casted for new AFOs next week since her ankles are now in a much better position.
Eva's elbows also look better. They can flex so that I can bring her bent arm up and her fingers can touch her forehead. This has never happened for Eva before.
Eva's knees can flex more as well. The list just goes on. I will post more once I finally compare her before and after ROM. I need a secretary.