Unless the swine flu kills us all before we get there, Jordan begins her adventure this afternoon with botulinum toxin injections as a way to manage her left side weakness or hemiparesis.
When we were still in ICU after her scoliosis correction surgery in December 2007, one of the occupational therapists mentioned botox injections as a way to strengthen Jordan’s muscle tone so that therapy exercises would be more productive, giving Jordan more flexibility and less spasticity as she worked to get that shoulder, arm and hand to be more cooperative.
Thanks to the worst babysitter ever, her medical diagnosis is traumatic brain injury, but for these kinds of procedures and her percutaneous surgery, we are usually following a cerebral palsy model. I’ll ask why eventually, but I am speculating that CP patients have been around longer for studies and trials, while surviving TBIs is a relatively new occurence.
Today, she is being fitted and cast for a post-injection splint for the left hand, a hidden orthotic for her left foot (having nothing to do with the injections, but it will help improve her gait) and an electronic stimulator. I’ll have my very own bionic woman choosing not to clean her room or load the dishwasher.
The first series of injections are scheduled for the end of May. She’ll work with her therapist for four to six months as they evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. If it’s all good, it’s back for more injections. It’s a continuous cycle until my insurance refuses to pay or until I run out of money. We’ll have to make really good progress in the meantime.
My whole life has been arranged around this girl from the 27 years before she was born to the 14 years since she’s been here. If she hadn’t survived, she’d be only a memory. But she’s here forgetting to do her laundry and stealing clothes from my closet. Mumbling all kinds of adolescent obscenities about me under her breath. Where would I be without her?
The things we do for love in comments…
