As previously, I had two injections to my lower arm, the dose that is given is only small and is quick and painless to administer. There are no "do's and don'ts" to adhere to afterwards and I just carried on as normal but even so being mindful of banging the arm or avoiding doing anything energetic, (by my standards), immeadiately afterwards.
The following day I didn't feel too good and my arm slightly swelled and was red, something which had not happened previously. I felt very tired and went to bed at 2.15pm and drifted in and out of sleep during the afternoon and early evening and then slept right through until the following morning. I got up fully refreshed and I do not know whether the injection was the cause of this happening or whether I was just overtired.
Boosted by all the rest I felt more than ready to travel to London to meet our new granddaughter. We travelled down on the Saturday, 2 days after the injections, and returned the following day. The journies were uneventful and I managed without any problems.
The Botox, as I stated before, has meant that my hand is not clawed and I was quite able to cuddle the baby without problems. As you can imagine our first grandchild has given me even more impetus to beat this state of affairs. I have continued to work the hand and fingers and this together with the injections has seen me now able to put on a pair of gloves, where previously I had to wear mittens, peel satsumas and fasten zips. All very simple things that we take for granted, but the pleasure at becoming more self sufficient is a tremendous boost and I am always looking for the next challenge.
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| Final fitting |
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| Ready to go out |
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| Dustpan & Brush |
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| Success |
I have invested in a long handled dust pan and brush set so I can now do that little bit more to help around the house. I still cannot bend down properly which means that I cannot clean the shower trays or the like, but on the positive side I can now iron most things using my left hand, clean windows and do other household chores. I have even mastered pegging out washing on the line, but that does invlove the use of teeth!!
I was somewhat "down in the dumps" at the turn of the new year: facing the prospect of another year of recovery, which probably would not see me back to full improvement. It can seem a long way back from the depths but the comments that have been made really make me think and understand more. These have given me fresh motivation, along with people who notice my improvement. Recently I was in the town where I live and had a really big boost to be told separately by 5 different people that: my walking is good, my speech is really good, "you look really good & are an inspiration" and the lady who I go to for acupucture tells me that," my pulses are stronger & everything is on the up".
I have acupuncture on my legs every three weeks and this I am convinced helps my stamina and aids my ability to walk increased distances.
All of this is such a boost, but I know that I still have a long journey to travel, and I owe a massive thank you to everyone for assisting me in this journey & investing so much of your time with me.
Addendum to Botox 2
I had my 2nd series of Botox on February 2nd and although it does not appear to have made any significant further improvement to my fingers, I noticed on March 6th that I could hold out my arm and this was a truly wonderful feeling. I have been practicing this movement daily since this latest milestone and I can now hold the arm out and straight for 10 seconds. I try to repeat this movement 2 or 3 times but do not get hung up about it if I can't.
