Today I went to the dentist, which was every bit as fun as it sounds. This time I was in the same room where I got the phone call about Jer three years ago, which was a little surreal but not really uncomfortable.
I'm happy to say that while I have terrible eyes, I have great teeth; I've never had any work done whatsoever on them other than the occasional cleaning, and they seem to hold up just fine. I am mystified as to how this works, considering I eat a ridiculous amount of chocolate, but hey-- I'm not complaining! At any rate, other than being told I need to floss more (something I've heard at every single dentist appointment I've ever had) things went swimmingly.
In other news, we brought home Connor's knee extension braces today! They are Wheaton Pediatric Knee Immobilizers, for those who are interested in the technical side of things. Connor will be wearing these during his standing time, and working up to wearing them during the night. They should not only help with his stability, but also help stretch out his hamstrings and to get a better stretch of his hip flexors and thigh muscles.
He's been using them at his weekly physical therapy for a while now, so hopefully it won't take him too long to get the hang of them at home. We're hoping that since they aren't too bulky he will be able to wear them for quite a while before he ends up in danger of overheating. He's really cute when he stands up in them because all he wants to do is stare down at his legs with this really puzzled look on his face. I figure he's thinking "why aren't my hinges bending?"
While I was going through the little guy's stretching today, I noticed something really exciting. Connor's clonus-- the involuntary jerking motion that is a big indicator of neurological damage that happens when you push up on his feet-- is almost entirely gone! Last year this progressed to the point that you literally could not flex Connor's feet at all without setting off the muscle spasms, so this to my mind points to some major improvement in his overall neurological state. He goes in to the neurologist on Thursday, so I'll be sure to talk to him about it then and see what he has to say about it. I'm hopeful though that this is a sign that the serious skill regression across the board we saw with all of last year's seizures might potentially be at least partially reversible.
It just makes me so happy that he's doing so well!
~Jess
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3 years ago
1 comment:
Wow -- that's great about the clonus! (I feel odd using that term so glibly, as if I totally know what clonus is, when I'd never heard of it before reading your post.) He's also probably just feeling better all around now that he's not siezing all the time -- such wear and tear on the system. People think I have great teeth because they're so straight and smooth, but really they're a treacherous warren of fillings and crowns, and I'll be lucky if I keep them for life. And this despite being a religious flosser.
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