hi again Alberta1967, I must say! 2004 certainly brought you one heck of a Christmas present. mine came a bit early for Christmas? in 1992 on November 2nd. still today, I'm left with all those undesirable gifts stroke brings with it. also left side affected, I still have the needles and pins, burning sensation on my affected side from my neck down to my foot, the shoulder/arm/hand pains, where every joint in your hand/wrist/and fingers feel like they need a good oiling. unlike you, I can't walk anywhere without my cane. most of my waking hours are spent in my wheelchair I have to wear a brace on my affected leg/foot just to stand. my toes also turn under except my big toe turns up? I refer to it as "hitchhiker toe. my entire foot turns in and down (drop foot) without my brace, I'd be trying to stand/walk with all my weight on the outside of my foot mostly on my little toe, ouch! in mid 1993 when Botox was in it's infancy my doctors thought they could isolate the muscles causing my foot to turn in/down/ and under they gave me 12 shots of Botox in my calf/leg the needles themselves as I remember were not painful at all. but the injection of the actual Botox was quite uncomfortable:blob_fire those shots, did absolutely nothing for me? other than cost lots of money. Botox is quite expensive plus only lasts 3 or 4 months! if works at all?

more recently, in the last year my neurologist referred me to a different doctor. this new doctor says he can help my foot to the point I'll be happy with. we'll see?instead of Botox he is using Phenol it seems to be more effective and much less expensive. he says it's a process, I've a few more shots to go but seems to be helping plus is supposed to be permanent. for my shoulder, her tried Botox again, says can't use phenol that close to the heart and lung muscles. again the Botox did nothing at all but cost $900.00 my share after medicare paid theirs

my hand doesn't bother me as much, during the day it's fairly relaxed and limber. until I yawn, or exert a lot of energy/strength trying to do something. then my hand will go into a claw/fist like state. it's at night when I go to bed that my hand curls up the most into a fist. those plastic wrist/hand splints my occupational therapists helped for a while, until my hang gained enough strength to bend them. I've broken six of them. my hand will close to the point that my fingernails will bring blood in my palm! what I've learned to do now, is get a pair of my socks, roll one sock up and place in my hand, fingers curled around it then my wife pulls the other sock over my hand holding the rolled up sock in place my hand still curls up harder but at least it's soft though does nothing for my wrist pain, but I can usually lay my hand on the mattress in a way to alleviate most if not all the pain in my wrist in the morning my hand is nice and limber and pretty much pain free

as far as the spasticity, I'm not sure that ever goes away completely? I take a total of 133 pills per week to help control spasticity and spasms and none of my pills are pain medications other than a baby aspirin & take that in the morning.

I hope some of this helps you a little bit?

I must say you're one brave woman/lady to leave your husband with 4 kids suffering the remnants of a stroke or mini-stroke

god bless you and may god bless us all

Larry/coupe