Guest guest Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 HI- Congratulations and welcome to the group. A suggestion for the fab- hopefully though, maybe our Australian friends will pipe in as to how they get the brace-would be to use the Ponseti brace. http://www.mdorthopaedics.com/ Is the website for this brace. Its a newer model of the FAB-you can read about it on the website. Also-with the DBB version of the fab- maybe you can contact the Markell company directly and see if they can help you. These are just a couple of ideas! kathleen mom to fab 12/7 > > Hi,everyone,I am a new member. It is great to know that there are > parents who are willing to support each other in this way. I am from > China so my English may not be good enough. Forgive me. We have our > baby Isaac born with clubfeet on july 27 2005. We went to a orthopeadic > doctor in Taiwan and had 4 times of weekly changed plaster casts.After > that,we came back to China and stopped treatment for a month.Now we > restarted our trentment again in Bangkok (Thailand). Our doctor is a > qualified one on Ponseti method. But our problem is that our doctor > said that there is no good Denis Brown Splint manufacturer in Thailand. > We are worried about how we could solve this problem. Next Tuesday our > son is gonna have Achilles tendon cut,then three or four weeks of final > cast. Before that, we have to have his special shoes ready. So,does > anyone have good idea about what we should do? We greatly appriciate > any advices and comfort. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2005 Report Share Posted November 9, 2005 Welcome to our group! Your English is very good! Don't worry about it at all! In addition to the information that Kathleen gave you, there is a distributor for the Markell shoes in the UK called Kettering Surgical, there is also a brace manufacturer in Germany. I don't know if either of these options will help you. There is information about those companies on this website: http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_links-ivil under the bracing section. You could also potentially contact the orthotists who work with Dr. Ponseti in Iowa, USA, for the standard FAB with Markell open-toed Tarso shoes and maybe they could send one to you. That company is American Prosthetics and Orthotics. Telephone . I know that would be willing to work with you to have a brace made for your son, but they are specially made and it would probably take a while for you to obtain the brace. Typically he would send you a kit to make an impression of the feet and then you send it back for him to make the brace. So maybe one of these other options would be a good first start so that you can get a brace quicker. In case of delays, you can have your doctor in Thailand apply a cast or two just to hold your son's feet in the corrected position until the brace arrives and you're confident that it is set up correctly. You won't want to leave his feet uncasted because they might turn back in and then the brace will be uncomfortable for him. I hope this helps! Please ask any questions! Regards, & (3-16-00, lcf) > > > > > > Hi,everyone,I am a new member. It is great to know that there are > > parents who are willing to support each other in this way. I am > from > > China so my English may not be good enough. Forgive me. We have > our > > baby Isaac born with clubfeet on july 27 2005. We went to a > orthopeadic > > doctor in Taiwan and had 4 times of weekly changed plaster > casts.After > > that,we came back to China and stopped treatment for a month.Now > we > > restarted our trentment again in Bangkok (Thailand). Our doctor is > a > > qualified one on Ponseti method. But our problem is that our > doctor > > said that there is no good Denis Brown Splint manufacturer in > Thailand. > > We are worried about how we could solve this problem. Next Tuesday > our > > son is gonna have Achilles tendon cut,then three or four weeks of > final > > cast. Before that, we have to have his special shoes ready. > So,does > > anyone have good idea about what we should do? We greatly > appriciate > > any advices and comfort. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 10, 2005 Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 Thanks,, and Kathleen That's very kind of you to answer my questions and offer us some options. When we first came to see Dr. Amnuay, I clearly remembered that he said that his patients seldom use the brace due to the lacking of good brace maker whom he trusted in Thailand. Instead, he suggested to apply three weekly casting twice after the tenotomy. At first we are happy about this because that would spare our baby and us two to three years of hard time of wearing the brace. Coincidently on our flight to Phuket island we bumped into a stewardess whose son had bilateral clubfoot and was treated by Dr.Amnuay as well. She said that her 3 or 4 years old son was capable of doing everything but his feet twisted a little bit inward or something (I didn't get it because of her Thai accent). So we made up our mind to get our son the brace. We still trust our doctor and as matter of fact we do not have other better choice. This Tuesday Dr. Amnuay brought a young gentleman along and he measured our son's feet. Although he did not do as professional as the orthotists who work with Dr. Ponseti, we thought he did a good job comparing to our previous experience. Hopfully we will see the shoes without bar next Tuesday when our little guy go for his tenotomy (the funny thing is that I had Achilles tendon rapture from soccor game before). But I will try to get him a pair of magic boots perfectly fit him so thanks for all the useful information. By the way, would you be so kind to give us a general idea how much we are giong to pay for the brace? Our Dr.is going to do the tenotomy under general anesthesia and he explained that the most important last casting could be applied to hold my son's feet on proper position while he is sleeping. I think that makes sense. Usually our doctor would prescribe a medicine called chloral hydrate to make Isaac asleep before doing the manipunation and casts. We are going to pay for that operation 1000 USD. Since we do not have insurance, we are concerned about the budget. We do hope all of the things are going to be well done and we can get back to home soon. Warmly, and Melody > > > > > > Hi,everyone,I am a new member. It is great to know that there > are > > > parents who are willing to support each other in this way. I am > > from > > > China so my English may not be good enough. Forgive me. We have > > our > > > baby Isaac born with clubfeet on july 27 2005. We went to a > > orthopeadic > > > doctor in Taiwan and had 4 times of weekly changed plaster > > casts.After > > > that,we came back to China and stopped treatment for a month.Now > > we > > > restarted our trentment again in Bangkok (Thailand). Our doctor > is > > a > > > qualified one on Ponseti method. But our problem is that our > > doctor > > > said that there is no good Denis Brown Splint manufacturer in > > Thailand. > > > We are worried about how we could solve this problem. Next > Tuesday > > our > > > son is gonna have Achilles tendon cut,then three or four weeks > of > > final > > > cast. Before that, we have to have his special shoes ready. > > So,does > > > anyone have good idea about what we should do? We greatly > > appriciate > > > any advices and comfort. > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 10, 2005 Report Share Posted November 10, 2005 & Melody, I'm sorry that I cannot give you any estimates for getting the brace. It's been a very long time since I've had to purchase any of that equipment and I also don't know what the shoes cost. Perhaps you could give the information about the German brace manufacturer to your doctor. There are quite a few Australian families who use the Ponseti method, you would think that perhaps there is a manufacturer or distributor there also that would be able to supply your doctor with the equipment. I'm kind of surprised that your doctor hasn't tried to communicate with other doctors in the region using the method, or Dr. Ponseti himself in order to try to come up with a bracing solution. Even the remote villages in the African countries have come up with some basic braces for the babies there. I hope he is able to get that resolved soon! The bracing is essential to prevent relapse. It's good that you're determined to get this for your son. Using the brace is not a challenge if the foot/feet are completely corrected and the brace is fitted properly. My daughter didn't fuss once with her brace even though she didn't even start wearing it until she was over 5 months old. There is information on brace wear and relapse rates on this website: http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_links-ivil under the bracing section, the medical journals section, and the messageboard posts section. The Global HELP booklet will be a good resource for you (you can find the link to that under the medical journals section as well). You will want your son to wear the brace at night at least until age 3 and up to age 4 or 5 if he tolerates it. This is the best insurance against relapse. The key is to make sure that the inside edges of the heels of the shoes are at a distance equal to the width of Isaac's shoulders. Also to make sure that the feet are flexed upward (dorsiflexion) to keep the Achilles tendon stretched. I hope this helps some. Regards, & (3-16-00, left clubfoot) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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