Oliver survived week one with his cast and is so far holding his own on week two. We visited the clinic last Wednesday and will be visiting again this Wednesday.
So far things are progressing well. His left foot is basically back in the position that it should be in after only one week in casting! Oliver's heel was still a little stiff so Barb worked it into the correct position and re-casted the left foot / leg. She also decided his right foot and leg would benefit from one cast so he is now sporting two casts instead of one. With his casts on Oliver weighs 11 pounds but without the casts he weighs 9 lbs 4 oz - thankfully he gets weighed without the casts during his visits to Sick Kids!
Barb continues to believe that he does not have a true "club foot" but something called metatarsus adductus http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002568/. Our understanding is that when we return to the clinic on Wednesday as long as his feet are back in the normal position Oliver will be finished with casting. During our visit this week we have a big decision to make - especially if this is the last round of casting. We must decide whether we wait six weeks (the option the orthopedic surgeon suggested) to see if Oliver's feet turn in again or whether we move into the brace bar / special shoe phase of the treatment. If we wait the six weeks and his feet don't turn back we will know that it wasn't a true "club foot" and if we decide to do the brace bar / special shoe routine Oliver will need to wear it 23 hours a day for 12 weeks and then wean down to 12 hours a day until he outgrows it - likely in five months. We're currently leaning towards waiting six weeks to see what happens - that way we'll know more concretely whether it was a club foot or not and whether we do need to be more aggressive with his treatment. All will depend on what his feet look like when the casts are removed this week.
It has been an interesting journey so far. Not only have we heard conflicting recommendations on whether to bar or not bar, but we've also had to get used to changing diapers with two bulky legs and not getting the casts wet during his nightly sponge baths! It will be nice to get Oliver's legs back and hopefully we will do just that in two sleeps!
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| Left leg cast - week one |
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| Two casts - week two |
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| Not the most flattering picture - but here is Oliver sporting two casts |
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| Week two visit - left leg cast is removed and the process of re-casting starts again |
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| The swaddle keeps his arms and hands from interfering in the process ;) |
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| It was feeding time so he ate while they worked! |
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| More casting work |
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| Almost done with cast two... |
Ugh! What a trooper -- but it sounds like his prognosis is great!
ReplyDelete(My mum, a twin, was born with club feet, and had surgery when she was 3 or 4. The only trace now are the nice long scars on both of her Achilles. Amazing what they can do just with casts now!)