Kell and Hypotonia

Wow! It seems like just yesterday I began taking Kell to physical therapy and today is his last day! As you know, he has hypotonia which caused him to be delayed on several milestones including crawling and walking. Well, he’s walking now, and has gone fom the 15th percentile to the 50th! This has been a fairly trying time. Not just the logistics of just getting him to physical therapy, though that has been bad enough. (Anyone who has ever bern to Atlanta knows that getting on Spaghetti Junction is never a good thing.) No, the hardest part is the fear. I did exactly what the pediatrician told me not to do; I googled hypotonia. There’s some scary stuff out there. That is one of the main reasons I’ve blogged about it so much–to counteract some of the scary. The pediatrician said he’d be just fine, but my pediatrician has been in practice for a long time. According to him, pretty much everything is “perfectly normal.” (Seriously, one of these days I’m going to paint one of the kids blue just to get a reaction out of their pediatrician!) Of course, he was right! Kell will always have some issues with muscle tone. He’s not “cured.” He still falls more easily than most kids, and “face plants” with a regularity that’s frightening. (I think the bruise unde his chin is permanent.) I’ve been told that he’ll never be an athlete, but, then again, Michael Phelps has hypotonia so you never know! I plan to start him in swim classes as soon as soccer is over. But seeing him walk in his new Chuck Taylors, and even trying to run is like a miracle to me. And this is a boy whose very life is a miracle. We are truly blessed.