Update on Spencer’s Progress

So after an anxious 3 month wait for the end of work and a 20 hour flight back to Canada we have made it to our new city of residence—Montreal, Quebec. We chose to move Montreal because of the great reputation of the city as a vibrant and colourful atmosphere. We also decided to move here because of the wonderful reputation of Shriner’s Hospital.

We met with Dr. Chantal Janelle and an OT Nathalie. We had our first visit last Thursday. On our first visit there was a lot of observation and talk about steps and diagnosis for Spencer; nothing concrete about what to do other than a stretch and follow up OT appointment on the Tuesday. We were given a stretch to work on some external rotation. It’s called the Chicken Wing stretch. We pull the arm down tight to the side of the body and then stretch at the elbow in a chicken wing position. He will have to do this stretch for the rest of his life. He hated it at first, until I found a way to distract him while I did the stretch. This is pretty difficult with an active 9 month old. Although most parents are excited about their child walking and they do everything they can to encourage walking, it was suggested that in order to strengthen the shoulder and rotation of the shoulder that I should try and delay the walking and encourage more crawling. Spencer crawls very fast. Sometimes he uses the combat crawl and other times he pushes up on the arm like ‘normal’ crawling. Obviously this is the ideal crawl but any crawl that encourages the shoulder rotation is being encouraged.

We followed up with the OT appointment after 5 days of stretching. Nathalie was pleased to see some relaxing of the muscles—they were not as tight—and she was encouraged by this result. She then did the Toronto Active Movement Scale. Spencer scored 2.5 on the scale; therefore he failed the test. This means that he will more likely require surgery—either exploratory or possibly grafting. This will be decided in the coming months after consultation with Dr. Janelle. Nathalie then showed us two more stretches to encourage movement. The first is to encourage proper movement among the scapula. We hold down the muscle under the arm and stretch like the chicken wing and then up into a 45 degree angle. This is done while Spencer is sitting on my knee. The other stretch is to encourage the wrist rotation. We have to hold on to the two bones and then rotate in and out without overstretching the wrists.

We have a follow up OT appointment on Friday. Spencer will be getting fitted for a Splint to encourage the fingers to stretch out. It’s been hard today as Spencer is moving forward with wanting to stand up. The poor little guy has nothing but bruises all over his face from falling. Not only this but he’s got a bad rash going on, I will have to pull out the cornstarch for this.

Overall, while the decision to move back to Canada has come with mixed emotions I am pleased with our decision to make the move. I loved our life in Shanghai and I don’t regret any of it; however I love being back home. I have enjoyed all the delicious food that I have missed while overseas. We are subletting from someone who is travelling for the summer and she left us a patio garden to use as we please, so tomatoes, lettuce, squash, beets, green beans and cucumbers have been growing on the balcony.

Pictures will follow our appointment on Friday.

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