Bids For Sarah Bear Online Auction!

An update to our earlier post about an online auction planned to raise funds for Sarah's medical expenses. Across the past two and one-half weeks when our household was running at half steam, I realized that holding the auction this Fall in 2009 was just too ambitious. We have received some wonderful goods and services donated for auction, as well as generous offers of volunteer assistance to help us mount it, and extend our thanks to everyone! But with a bout of intensive physical therapy sessions coming up for Sarah and just next week even, Botox treatment to help reduce her muscle spasticity due to cerebral palsy, I realized the need to reset the auction to Spring 2010.

So we'll definitely look forward to seeing you then! We've got items for auction that are going to wow you!

Meanwhile, about the use of Botox, we have used it before after closely consulting with Sarah's neurologist and always watch her very closely. The use of Botox to treat muscle spasticity in cerebral palsy is not without a lot of worrisome risk, and has received a lot of stepped-up attention this year from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has never approved botulinim toxin for this use. Early this summer, it issued a warning statement to be placed on labels about possible negative effects. The agency's recommendations to parents and healthcare providers include:

Be alert to and educate patients and caregivers about potential adverse events due to distant spread of botulinum toxin effects following local injections including: unexpected loss of strength or muscle weakness, hoarseness or trouble talking (dysphonia), trouble saying words clearly (dysarthria), loss of bladder control, trouble breathing, trouble swallowing, double vision, blurred vision and drooping eyelids; understand that these adverse events have been reported as early as several hours and as late as several weeks after treatment; advise patients to seek immediate medical attention if they develop any of these symptoms.

If a child does have a bad reaction to Botox treatment, the FDA suggests reporting the incident through its MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting Program.

Posted by Sarah's Mom at 10:15 AM Permalink