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Tuesday Update: 08/26/08

We were able to get in to see Dr. Struck today and discuss the Botox idea. She wanted to go through the pros and cons with us before moving forward. Her biggest concern was that the Botox could create muscle weakness in the injected areas of Matt’s arm/hand. She worried that his grip would be weakened and didn’t know how much of an impact this would have on his daily life. We explained that right now Matt hardly uses the right hand at all except to steady himself while standing, or transferring…and we both agreed the risks were minimal and wanted to go for it. She also broke down the different muscle groups that are impacted, in ways we never really looked at before. The tremor makes Matt’s fingers clench up like a fist and it also makes his wrist move back and forth. Matt agreed that the finger clenching was the most bothersome to him and we decided to try and treat that first. She was a little leery of injecting both areas at once, this first time, even though she really wanted to. So, we agreed to error on the side of caution and ease our way in to things and just injected the muscles which control the tremor in Matt’s fingers. This injection should have effects lasting 4-6 months. We’re supposed to see how things go over the next few weeks and call in…then we’ll go from there. We are both optimistic (cautiously optimistic) but still optimistic, that this might actually bring Matt some relief. She said she was excited to see how it goes too!

The funny thing is, they asked Matt to lie up on the table to do the procedure and were a little worried that it would be difficult for him. Well, of course, we transferred up there with no trouble and both the doctor and nurse were VERY impressed with how much control he had. Matt commented later on how Dr. Struck seemed impressed and I told him it should be a reminder to HIM of just how far he’s come. They’ve seen him at his worst…they REMEMBER what it was like in those early days and they are thrilled to see how independent and capable Matt is. He just kind of shrugged it off…that’s just the way Matt is…but I know he was tickled that she was so pleased in his strength and progress in general.

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