Alison had SB clinic today. The appointment was a good one. We like those. :) Dr. Hurvitz continues to be amazed at her progress. Kevin asked how concerned we needed to be about scoliosis. With her lesion level, normally it would be a pretty big concern, almost a certainty that she would at some point develop it. But Dr. Hurvitz feels that with her function being what it is, it's still possible, but unlikely. We will still keep an eye on things, though.

I asked him for his opinion on putting Alison in an SMO instead of an AFO. He felt it was worth a try. We all agree that she could use some more support for that ankle, but my concern has been that when she was in the AFO full-time she lost some of the muscle tone in her calf and her foot became more "floppy." Dr. Hurvitz said he thought the only point of concern was that the weight of the brace might make her foot drop worse and cause her to start tripping, but on the other hand, since we are trying to strengthen those muscles, it might actually help. He was ready to write us an order, but we thought it would be better to wait and talk to Dr. Craig about it (we'll be seeing him again in October), since he's the one that put her in the brace to start with. Dr. Hurvitz said that was fine and that he was going to send a letter to Dr. Craig telling him everything that we had talked about just in case he were to look at her and say "oh, her foot drops, so she needs the AFO." That has been my concern, so the reason I asked Dr. Hurvitz about it in the first place was to possibly have some "ammunition" when we see Dr. Craig again. I'm also going to see if Alison's PT has any thoughts on the subject.

Throughout the appointment, Alison had been here, there, and everywhere, checking out this and that and chatting up a storm. As we were wrapping up the appointment Dr. Hurvitz asked us if we had any other questions, like how to improve Alison's vocabulary or social skills. He quickly said he was just kidding, because it's apparent to anyone who meets her that she is not shy in the least and many feel that talking to her is just like talking to a little adult.