But He's Slouching

He's slouching.  Yep, he REALLY is slouching.  His head sometimes dipped in the past, or his stiffened torso would lean to the side.  But today, his shoulders are up, his back is bent, his arms are loose by his sides and he's holding his one hand on to the wrist of the other... relaxed.

Why does all of this matter?  Because this all describes WESLEY, our son with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.  He's never slouched in his life. Never loosely held on to anything.  He's never lifted his shoulders or dipped his head without a tightness throughout his body forcing him in to that position.

But today?  He's slouching!

We began a new medication this past weekend to help with the spasticity that is caused by Wesley's CP.  His neurologist looked at him and said "it won't do miracles..." to which we said "we're not looking for miracles, just quality of life and the most opportunities to succeed as we can provide him with."

Today, I would say that his reaction to the new med is certainly close to a miracle.  He laid on the floor and played with toys and the tightness throughout his legs almost looked RELAXED.  Sitting in his chair eating dinner he curled his arms around his chest and just sat... RELAXED.  It's almost as if after 6 1/2 years of being tight all the time he had this sudden reprieve.

Don't get me wrong, he's still very tight.  He's still stiff.  He's nothing like a "normal" toned child would feel like.  But the difference between last week and today may not be the miracle the neurologist cautioned us against expecting... but in the world of a six year old little boy with a look of relief on his face... it is just that.