Saturday, August 14, 2010

Botox Update

Hi all. Sorry I haven't posted sooner, but as usual, life is a bit crazy around here.

Ben's botox appointment went very well. We were admitted into Paediatrics around noon. Ben was weighed and measured and then we played in the playroom (which was awesome). We probably waited around an hour for the Physiatrist to come.

Once she came, everything happened rather quickly. They put something on the back of each leg (over his hamstrings) to free the skin. Then they gave him an oral anesthetic which did not cause him to fall asleep, but just made him a bit dopey.

About a 1/2 hour later, they administered the botox. 2 injections in each hamstring. Basically, just like getting a vaccine. Ben did cry and we had to hold him down, but he didn't fight it too much. Five minutes later he was totally over it.

In about 10 minutes, the anesthetic started to wear off. He had a snack (the nurse wanted to make sure that he could swallow and that his gag reflex was fine before discharging him). He was very hungry (since he wasn't allowed to eat after breakfast) so he ate and ate.

Then about 3pm, we left. Ben was asleep in the van before we left the parking lot. By the time we got home, he was totally back to normal and didn't seem to remember anything about the day.

It takes between 3 to 7 days before we'll see any results. So we wait. We've also been told to do lots of "long sitting" to stretch out his hamstrings while they're looser from the botox. And of course, have lots of other "exercises" to do during the 3-month window that the botox will be effective.

I guess that's about it. I'll keep you posted on the results as I see them!

7 comments:

  1. Stretch away, girl! Take full advantage!

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  2. Ben sounds like he is such a trooper! Good luck! Keep us posted.

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  3. Good to hear it! I knew he'd do great. Our kids are made of some pretty tough stuff.

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  4. Very happy you are all doing well.
    That is so exciting about the botox.
    Children are resilient and they never cease to amaze me!

    Hugs.

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  5. Very exciting. I hope everything is going well.

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  6. Indeed. Kids can be pretty brave. But for parents, it can be worrying when procedures like this have to be done. Well, I hope that the botox is effective for him!

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