**Note** Liam was born with a club foot and has been dealing with treatments since he was 6 days old. First was a series of six casts over six weeks, then a tendon elongation followed by a final cast for 3 weeks. Then came the really fun stuff . . . Denis Brown boots and bar . . . Liam had to wear these shoes 23 hours a day for 3 months and now continues to wear them at night until he is four.
I took the day off work to take Liam to an appointment with Dr. Jarvis, his orthopedist at CHEO. And I am thrilled that everything is progressing as planned. Dr. Jarvis was very pleased with the range of motion of Liam's foot and his walking. And Liam was very eager to show Dr. Jarvis his cars!
Of course, we are still dealing with the Denis Brown Boots and Bar every night, however the doctor did say today that protocol for this is to continue for 3 years. I am not going to get too excited about the duration being shortened by a year yet. Since we started the process we have been told 2 years, then 4 years and now 3 years. As far as I am concerned, we'll wear then until the doctor tells us to stop wearing them. Fortunately since my last club foot post, he has gotten much better about wearing the shoes. We still have the occasional night that is a struggle, but most nights, he sits nicely while I put them on, sometimes even giving them to me so that I will put them on.
Things have come a long way since the nurse in the special care nursery told us that our tiny little premature baby had something wrong with his foot and that he would probably need surgery. I am glad that she really didn't know what she was talking about!
So happy to hear things are coming along well for Liam. I feel for you re: what the nurse said - when my first was born with a cephalhematoma, the nurse told me it can affect the brain (learned from a neurologist later that thankfully, it can't). Talk about being scared!
ReplyDeleteGlad that's going well, Nicki. I had to wear an almost full-body cast and then later shoes and bars like that when I was little, too (although slightly more convoluted configuration since I had hip issues instead of foot issues)...I'm sure it was a struggle for my folks, but best thing for me, and probably will be for Liam, too, was that it was all taken care of before my memory kicked in, so no residual hatred of shoes or anything (=
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