Guest guest Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I just got back from what I thought would be my son's 3rd casts but the doctor said that he didn't need anymore. He has good dorsoflection(sp?) and his feet look straight. He said he had a mild case and doesn't need the DBB either. He gave him Wheaton braces for both feet and sent us on our way and said to come back in 3 weeks. Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so happy but also a little thrown by this news. Caroline Son BiLateral clubfeet born 2/25/05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Caroline, I can understand your joy. I know what it's like to have things better than you thought. However, please reconsider accepting his verdict on the no DBB and just wheaton brace thing. Why don't you contact Dr. P and see what he has to say? Chris Cautiously Happy I just got back from what I thought would be my son's 3rd casts but the doctor said that he didn't need anymore. He has good dorsoflection(sp?) and his feet look straight. He said he had a mild case and doesn't need the DBB either. He gave him Wheaton braces for both feet and sent us on our way and said to come back in 3 weeks. Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so happy but also a little thrown by this news. Caroline Son BiLateral clubfeet born 2/25/05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 My daughter also had mild clubfoot which (I believe if casted by more proficient hands) would have been fully corrected in 3-4 casts. As it was it took 5, but the last three didn't seem to do much correcting between them (meaning they were roughly the same cast and I think the doc was being cautious by casting again). Her foot was easily put in a neutral position at birth, it was nearly miss-diagnosed as positional only for 4 whole days while I was in the hospital and her being seen by multiple resident ped's every day. Still, she went into the FAB/DBB and I have braced her according to Dr. Ponseti's protocol. There's no way in hell that after all that, that I was going to take any chances. Her doc always told me she didn't need to be braced as long as I did, but I did it anyway. He also told me a few months ago that she didn't need the DBB anymore but she will wear it till she's 3, and perhaps 3-1/2 because that's the minimum Dr. Ponseti says. Again, I'm not going to risk it. If she relapses after all this, it'll not be because I didn't brace her when it was so simple (yet I know, BTDT... that it sounds very complicated and awful right now - we all have dreaded bracing at this point in our child's treatment). She now has a perfectly corrected foot, and no one would ever know she had anything wrong and at 2, it doesn't point straight forward but a little to the outside still. It will be straight in the next year or so I'm sure. My hope for her is that she really never knows (as in *feels*) either. That's what I want for my daughter and yes, I may have gone beyond what was minimally needed for her being that she was mild... but clubfoot is clubfoot and the deformity wants to reoccur. It is the nature of the beast. Many parents have been told it was mild and no further treatment is needed, only to end up with a foot that needs more work than would have been necessary if the bracing had been properly applied (early release is often blamed for relapses which is why the minimum has been raised to 3-1/2y). Severity, according to Dr. Ponseti does alter the bracing requirements. The clubfoot wants to relapse in the first years of the child's life, even surgical corrections relapse. Which is why many children have multiple surgeries after the first one. The FAB is the only brace shown to provide the 95% success rate Something else to consider, is that the foot should not be *straight*. It will end up straight, but it needs to be overcorrected. Keep in mind, that if a relapse should occur, going from straight to relapse is only a matter of a degree or two. I would like to echo how wonderful it is that his foot is doing so well, and it would be ever so exciting to not have to deal with CF with him. But if it is a clubfoot, and many docs treat positional the same as they would true clubfoot, the foot has many growth spurts to go through over the next 5 years and they seems to force any relapse that may occur. I think I would seek out a second opinion with another Ponseti doc. Do you have pics of his feet prior to casting to show? A key for my daughter's diagnosis was a crease on the inside ankle, lateral crease. He saw that and knew it was a true, yet mild clubfoot. I think it would ease my mind a whole lot to hear a different Ponseti doc tell me exactly what your doc said. If it wasn't a true clubfoot, he may not need the FAB, that would be fantastic. I would love to hear that myself lol! But stay cautious, especially if another doc says otherwise and he did have true clubfoot. Either of those things being true would change things dramatically for me. Big congrats on a straight foot! It is very nice to see isn't it? Kori At 10:18 AM 3/22/2005, you wrote: >I just got back from what I thought would be my son's 3rd casts but >the doctor said that he didn't need anymore. He has good >dorsoflection(sp?) and his feet look straight. He said he had a >mild case and doesn't need the DBB either. He gave him Wheaton >braces for both feet and sent us on our way and said to come back in >3 weeks. > >Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so happy but also a little >thrown by this news. > >Caroline >Son BiLateral clubfeet born 2/25/05 > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I don't want to burst your bubble, but I would be very cautious. This is exactly what happened to us. My son went through 6 casts and then into a Wheaton brace at 3mos of age. Now he's 14 months and we are going through castings again and into a DBB afterwards. If he had been put in a DBB in the beginning we wouldn't be doing this now. I am so angry with our original doctor. You might want to get a second opinion. Anne son - Ian unilateral clubfoot 12/2/03 > > I just got back from what I thought would be my son's 3rd casts but > the doctor said that he didn't need anymore. He has good > dorsoflection(sp?) and his feet look straight. He said he had a > mild case and doesn't need the DBB either. He gave him Wheaton > braces for both feet and sent us on our way and said to come back in > 3 weeks. > > Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so happy but also a little > thrown by this news. > > Caroline > Son BiLateral clubfeet born 2/25/05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Hi Caroline, I don't know if you've written anything prior to this e-mail regarding 's feet but is it possible that he had metatarsus adductus and not true clubfoot? Full correction with just two casts and no tenotomy seems very fast. If it is true clubfoot you might want to get a second opinion about disregarding the DBB. Whatever the case, it's great that 's feet are already corrected! Dan Cautiously Happy I just got back from what I thought would be my son's 3rd casts but the doctor said that he didn't need anymore. He has good dorsoflection(sp?) and his feet look straight. He said he had a mild case and doesn't need the DBB either. He gave him Wheaton braces for both feet and sent us on our way and said to come back in 3 weeks. Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so happy but also a little thrown by this news. Caroline Son BiLateral clubfeet born 2/25/05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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