Kori you were right, of course! : )

February 15, 2005

Kori,

I just had to tell you how right you were about using the Markell's

properly! You are the queen of all things shoe/brace related, I will

bow to your instructions in the future!! : )

Sammy's daycare broke the strap on one of his AFO's yesterday so I had

to pull out the Markell's and I put them on our Dobb's brace. He

couldn't be happier in them -- I drilled holes in the heels and took

out that dumb plastizode and we are happy campers. And I don't know

if this is just a coincidence or what, but he has been stubbornly

refusing to roll from his tummy to his back in the brace but suddenly

this morning w/ the Markell's on instead of the AFO's he starts

rolling over like crazy! I really am wondering if it has something to

do with the not being able to move his ankles thing.

I just know I was not getting the heels down when he got his sores,

and I am glad Dr. Dobbs gave us the AFO's as another alternative, but

I'm starting to think that maybe we will stick w/ the Markell's now...

We'll have to see if the shoes bother him at all today. I think my

issues with the shoes both before and after the sores was that I was

having a hard time because of 1) tenderness after just getting out of

the cast, 2) just general baby foot floppiness, 3) plastizode was

doing more harm than good -- it was just in the way of getting the

heel down, not really helping cushion at all!, 4) my own stubbornness

at wanting to blame the shoes and not myself. I just felt so

prepared for the shoes after reading the tips sheet a million times

but then when he got the sores after 1 day in the shoes I just freaked

out (even though it was my own fault for not cutting out the heels)!

But now that I'm a cut out heel convert, and his foot has been out of

casts for a while and isn't so tiny and floppy I think the shoes may

be just fine!

Oh and I also should add that I think another drawback on the AFO's is

the strap breaking thing, this is our second one to break. Luckily I

work very close to the orthotics shop but this could definitely be an

issue for parents who have to travel at all to get their shoes and braces.

Thanks for all your support and words of wisdom!

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