Hi Everyone,

For those of you following our carepage from the beginning, you may remember the blue ultra-flex braces Corey wore on both her legs. She has worn them on/off since the beginning of her inpatient days. The brace stretches the muscles in the back of her calf, ankle and heel. The stretch keeps the muscles limber for greater range of motion. If Corey doesn’t wear the brace and if we don’t stretch her foot daily, in just a few short weeks the brain overrides her progress, sends a signal to the muscles to tighten, her foot/ankle gets stiff (increased tone) and she reverts back to foot drop. Once again another example of how critical long-term supervised PT care and therapy truly is.

Corey will have her second series of botox shots in her left leg and left arm next Wednesday. We are playing against the insurance timer again for continued rehab. Today Natalie used our session to create a lightweight night brace Corey will wear instead of the ultra-flex brace. She molded Corey’s foot/leg to the knee much like a cast but without the plaster. The cast-like brace is lightweight and will force her foot to remain in the stretched position. It should also be more comfortable to sleep with. Our hope is to continue wearing the ultra-flex two hours a night after dinner but at bedtime wear the lightweight cast brace for 8 hours.

We know Corey responded to the botox from series one. The intent is to stretch her longer as we put a full court press on the PT therapy over the next 6 weeks. We are hoping the brace will keep her limber, the range of motion will increase as she strengthens the muscles with a more intense PT regimen. Fortunately, we followed this same course of treatment for her right leg 3 years ago and now has full function of that leg/foot. We are hoping for the same results for Lefty Lucy!

Note of reflection;
You would think I would be used to the added pressure and deadline threats from insurance by now…but guess what…I’m always sitting in the corner of the ring, gloves on, waiting for that bell to sound…what round is it anyway? xoxo