Are you tired about Botox?

I know, I seem to be talking about Botox a lot lately. It’s been on my mind for a while! (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check out THIS post and then THIS one). Jillian finally received Botox treatment last Wednesday.

According to Cerebral Palsy Source:

US researcher studied 250 children with cerebral palsy, ranging from ages one to sixteen, and their reactions to botox treatment. After analyzing evidence from videos of the children’s gait, assessments by doctors, and reports from families, they found 86 % of the children treated demonstrated noticeable improvements in symptoms of muscle spasticity. Of those that were followed for more than two years, more than 80% continued to show improvement over their initial cerebral palsy symptoms before beginning treatment with botox…Researchers have found that with botox and cerebral palsy, children under the age of six respond best to this type of cerebral palsy treatment, especially effective in children who have not developed fixed joint contractures. It is most effective when used in the early stages of spasticity while the child’s bones are still developing and before problems with bone development and deformity set in.

After battling with our insurance company for the past 3 months to even get it covered, it’s been a nightmare, and extremely stressful. Of course, true to Cheryl form, I began stressing out because she was actually GOING to get the injections. (Unfortunately, our battle with the insurance company is not over. They still have yet to approve Botox treatments, however, I was able to get a round donated by the company that manufactures Botox in Canada)

The results have been amazing! Seriously. Within HOURS after the injections (she received 6 shots in each leg) we noticed a difference. Jillian stood almost completely flat footed just mere hours from the injections AND she climbed one stair (using Adam for leverage, but still. A STAIR!) I’m eager to see how the full response is!

Prior to Botox, Jillian was mostly miserable a lot of the time. She complained of pain in her legs every day. Also? She used to be able to relax at night. About a month before we received the injections, Jillian was curled completely into a ball instead of stretching out while she was asleep. I obviously felt pretty helpless since I hadn’t won the fight with the insurance company.

I really wish I had thought to take some before pictures/videos of Jillian, that way I could show our insurance company just what a remarkable difference this was. Hopefully I’ll be able to get future injections covered. Cross your fingers for me.

To wrap up, who knew shooting my kid up with toxins would prove to be such a beneficial thing? Back is my happy girl I thought we had lost.

(On a completely unrelated note, I’ll be attending a Cerebral Palsy Symposium at Holland Bloorview next Friday. I’ve been given the go ahead to live blog/tweet/facebook this event. I was pretty excited about that and now a HUGE honor, Jillian’s doctor asked me if I would be willing to be a parent on hand for media interviews. Cue “I’m just a mom” fear! If you want to see what we’ll be talking about on Friday, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter and on my own Blog. I’ll probably be using the following hashtags- #CP, #HollandBloorview #StemCells. I’d love to hear what you think!)

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