Botox?

My favorite part about this post is that a few days ago I was saying we NEEDED all these adjustments to the house, yada yada yada and how expensive it would all be and NOW I'm telling you about Botox. And guess who is getting it?

If you don't have a child with special needs or someone in your family with a muscular illness this probably won't make any sense to you. For at least a decade (at Children's Mercy anyway) they have been using Botox injections to help children with high tone in their bodies. What does that mean? Well, Olivia's muscles have the same amount of muscle in them, but has either almost no tone (where she lets herself flop around) or high tone (when she goes straight as a board). There is a particular place on the inside of her right leg that constantly crosses over the left one making it very difficult to walk or even stand correctly. Today we saw our rehab dr. who works with our physical therapist and we decided that this leg crossing isn't skeletal (she doesn't have hip dysplasia) but its in her muscle. So, next Friday she will be getting Botox injections in her leg in that one area that causes the leg to cross over. Without getting too "sciency" that will relax the muscles in that area of her leg for about 3 months and might allow that leg hang closer to straight down rather than sideways. If it works, we can continue the injections every few months. If it doesn't, no harm done, well, besides the pain the shots cause. Though I'm sure Olivia and her new two year-old attitude won't see it that way. She'll get over it.

On another note, geez! Does anyone else find themselves waiting for cooler temperatures?