Oliver's first visit to the Club Foot Clinic at Sick Kids

Today was Oliver's first appointment at the Club Foot clinic at Sick Kids. 

We arrived at 8 a.m. checked in and proceeded to the waiting room. I was expecting the room to be packed based on things I've heard and read about the clinic but there were only a handful of people there. We waited for about 10 minutes and were then brought into an exam room to wait for our consultation with Dr. Wright the orthopedic surgeon. We were seen first by the orthpedic fellow and then by Dr. Wright, the fellow and Barb the physiotherapist. They were all very nice and delivered some very positive news to us. They were very pleased with how much movement Oliver had in his feet and actually don't believe that he has a "true" club foot. We won't know for sure until we're through the casting process but we were certainly relieved to hear their news. We also learned that they may not even cast his right foot because of how flexible it is - we may be given a series of stretches to do with him and his foot to manipulate it into place. We will know more about what will happen with his right foot in the coming weeks. For now, he was given a cast on his left leg. We will return to the clinic next Wednesday to have it removed and his foot examined. From there Barb the physiotherapist will provide us with her recommendation on what happens next. We will likely receive another cast on his left leg (but no more than three) and we will talk in greater detail about what to do with his right foot. The other positive news from our visit today was that we may not need to follow up the casting with the brace bar and special shoes. Depending on his how feet respond we may only need to go through the casting to reposition his feet. Again, this will all become more clear over the next three weeks. 

Oliver handled today's visit like a champ. He was his usual calm self. He only fussed a bit as his foot / knee were held into place in order for the cast to harden. 

We are looking forward to seeing how things progress over the coming weeks. For now we're getting used to Oliver's "new leg". 

The casting process has begun

The "glue" being applied on Oliver's foot 

With the glue on it's time for the plaster

The plaster goes from the foot up to the thigh

Look how calm he is - you'd think he was at the spa ;)

A fiberglass coating is applied over the cast

Barb, the great physiotherapist and Doyle (sporting his "MO" for Movember)

Just about done with cast number one - it will be on until next Wednesday