Now you know that you might just run into me crying in a discount department store. Big deal right? Ok, I’m not afraid. But on the other side of life’s ups and downs, I have to share what happened yesterday. I picked Lucy up from school to go straight to her occupational therapy appointment at Shriners. A little background, she has been going to Shriners weekly for years and I think she is over it! We have tapered her appointments down because the full hour of screaming was a little more than anyone could bear. I finally realized Lucy saw Shriners as torture, not therapy and torture does not produce results, since she is resisting the entire time.

Yesterday’s visit was a follow up to look at Lucy’s hands. A year ago we were looking at doing botox to mimic the potential results of a surgical release on her hands. When we met with the hand doctor a few months ago, she was stunned at Lucy’s progress. And stated that she just does not see children with cerebral palsy who show improvement on their own and yet Lucy’s hands continually improve. She was pretty stunned and was shaking her head in disbelief. I told her that Leah’s sister is deaf, so we sign all of the time and Lucy is always working on improving the clarity of her signs. Her doctor said, “That HAS to be it!” Lucy is no longer a candidate for botox or hand surgery. (Whew!)

Sign language just saved Lucy from surgery on her hands!

Yesterday her OT agreed Lucy’s hands are improving. We refitted her for splints (with no tears or complaints from Lucy) and her OT suggested a second splint with a hole cut in it to hold the pencil for Lucy! Lucy was in heaven! She no longer has to worry about hanging on to the pencil AND moving her hands. She immediately started drawing and writing letters (which has been a big issue since Kindergarten). It was SO much easier for her with the pencil splint. She kept asking, “Can I keep this? Do I get to take it home? Is this my own?” I wanted to stand up and cheer. I whispered, “Lucy you are shining!” We now have a solution to the hand writing issue that she has struggled with for years!
(Her OT also suggested a slant board for her to write on, so she doesn’t have to hunch over so far and a book holder for reading - both will help her posture.)

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