Re: Need some re-assurance

[Guest guest]

Dear Gail,

the surgery is generally referred to as a Tenotomy. I've never heard anyone

describe it as " shredding " the tendon. Done by the Ponseti Method the

achielies tendon is nicked through the skin, and most often this is done as an

office procedure with the parents present if they want to be. Sometimes on

older babies the child is put to sleep for it. The tendon is much like a

rubber band, and if you nick a rubber band you realize it stretches a little bit

further....same principal here, except the tendon will heal itself afterwards

to the new longer position.

I do not know of your doctor so I cannot say myself if he is really using the

Ponseti Method or not (exactly)....sounds like it so far. I'll put a word of

caution in here though that some of these " Ponseti Doctors " do modify the method

and sometimes that's not a good thing.

The brace is not as bad as it sounds. Your baby will wear it full time for a

few months, then gradually decrease the time he wears it until he's only wearing

it at night, approx 12 to 14 hours a night. By that point it's hardly an issue

and is more like part of his pajamas.

The brace (FAB) is very crucial to the correction and it's very important that

you use it! With out the FAB your child's foot will revert back to a clubbed

state and need to undergo casting again if not worse. It's easy to feel

defeated and easy to pity the poor baby who wears this piece of hardware on his

feet - but I promise you the rewards are worth it!!!! Done right, the FAB will

not slow down yoru child. He will roll over, sit up , learn to crawl and

proably even learn to walk in the thing, it's incredible what these kids do. It

shouldn't hurt to wear it - and if it does, we can help you figure out what is

going wrong and how to correct that so he can wear it and not relapse.

Again, don't let this daunt you. Three years sounds like an eternity but the

worst of it is over in the first months and then it just becomes hardly a factor

at all and time flies. My son is 2 1/2 years old now and it's hard to belive

we're on the down hill slide here, but to see his perfect feet I know it's so

worth it. When you see how nice your kid's feet look and how good they work,

you'll understand it's worth your dedication here. And the alternative is

surgery - probably multiple surgeries over many, many years maybe up in to adult

hood.

The Files and Links part of this web site is full of really, really good

information for you to read about club foot and about the Ponseti Method, as

well as information about non-Ponseti treatments that will help you understand

this Ponseti Process, the casting, the bracing, the How's and the Why's of it

all. And of course post any questions you have here, it's what we do!

Best of luck!

shawnee

Need some re-assurance

I am a mother of an 8 week old son (Cody). We are seeing Dr.

Ward at Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh. Dr. Ward is performing the

Ponsetti procedure on Cody. He is in the process of getting his 4th

cast on tomorrow. We were told that he would have one more casting

after this one and then have surgery to shred the tendon in the back

of his ankle. Once this is done, he will be in a brace for 3 years.

Has anyone gone thru this? How did it turn out? I don't really like

the thought of my baby having surgery already, but if it fixes the

problem then I shouldn't be so worried......right?

I would appreciate all the feed back I can get. Thanks!!!!

Gail Pifer

Mom of Cody

DOB: 9/23/05

[Guest guest]

Hi Gail, I have never heard of Dr. Ward we live in NJ right outside

of Philadelphia. As far as I can remember I thought there wasn't any

doctors in PA that are on Dr. Ponseti's list of doctors that have

proven to him that they are quailified. I could be wrong though the

link to the list is at

http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/orthopaedics/clubfeet/physicians.h

tml#I

Did he say the name of the surgery I have never heard any doctor

say " shred " before I'm curious to know what he wants to do. If he is

doing a surgery other then the tenotmy I would seriously run and get

a second opinion. I think any doctor wanting to operate on a baby as

young as Cody just gave up and doesn't know how to " really do the

ponseti method " many doctors claim to use it but really do their own

thing.

I'm sure you will recive lots of good feedback, and maybe someone

will know more about Dr. Ward for you.

Good Luck!

Michele

Collin's story at http://www.geocities.com/chele323232

>

> I am a mother of an 8 week old son (Cody). We are seeing Dr.

> Ward at Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh. Dr. Ward is performing

the

> Ponsetti procedure on Cody. He is in the process of getting his

4th

> cast on tomorrow. We were told that he would have one more casting

> after this one and then have surgery to shred the tendon in the

back

> of his ankle. Once this is done, he will be in a brace for 3

years.

>

> Has anyone gone thru this? How did it turn out? I don't really

like

> the thought of my baby having surgery already, but if it fixes the

> problem then I shouldn't be so worried......right?

>

> I would appreciate all the feed back I can get. Thanks!!!!

>

> Gail Pifer

> Mom of Cody

> DOB: 9/23/05

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Gail,

My son Alister is 3 years old now and has also been

treated with the Ponseti method, including the

tenotomy and the brace.

Did your doctor really say he'd 'shred' the tendon?

That sounds a strange thing to say to a mother...

Anyway, assuming that he's not planning on doing

anything else (and I agree with the others, I wouldn't

let him do anything else), the tenotomy in the Ponseti

method only takes a minute and consists of a small

incision in the heel (usually under local

anaesthetics) where the achilles tendon is cut. In

babies the tendon grows back to the correct length in

a couple of weeks. My son had this done at about 2

1/2 months and was completely fine afterwards.

And since the last cast he's been wearing the DBB

(boots on a bar), full-time for the first 3 months,

then gradually reducing to 12 hours a day (or rather

at night) until he could walk. He's still wearing

them every night and it's no problem at all, it's just

part of his bed-time routine.

At first it seemed very daunting to me too but in

reality the time passes so quickly and now we hardly

notice since it just goes with his pyjamas. Alister

himself doesn't mind either, in fact he even reminds

me if he thinks I've forgotten...

And his foot looks perfect (he had only one clubfoot),

you can't tell the difference, and he runs and jumps

exactly the same as his twin brother.

Hope this helps,

with (3y)

and Alister (3y, RCF, Ponseti method, UK)

--- glpmail04 wrote:

> I am a mother of an 8 week old son (Cody). We are

> seeing Dr.

> Ward at Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh. Dr. Ward

> is performing the

> Ponsetti procedure on Cody. He is in the process of

> getting his 4th

> cast on tomorrow. We were told that he would have

> one more casting

> after this one and then have surgery to shred the

> tendon in the back

> of his ankle. Once this is done, he will be in a

> brace for 3 years.

>

> Has anyone gone thru this? How did it turn out? I

> don't really like

> the thought of my baby having surgery already, but

> if it fixes the

> problem then I shouldn't be so worried......right?

>

> I would appreciate all the feed back I can get.

> Thanks!!!!

>

> Gail Pifer

> Mom of Cody

> DOB: 9/23/05

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

___________________________________________________________

How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday

snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com

[Guest guest]

Gail & Cody,

Welcome to the board! Like the others, I have not heard of Dr. Ward

either. From what you've described, it sounds like he's doing

things right in a general sense...but in order to determine if he

really is doing things right, you'll have to get a lot more details.

The best place to start is Dr. Ponseti's website, which you were

given in an earlier post.

There is a lot of information here:

http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_links-ivil

check out the parents' checklist page. Also, go to the medical

journals section and click on the link for the Global HELP booklet.

It is a free downloadable PDF file. It's a technical

medical " manual " for how to follow the Ponseti protocol. If you

print this out and review it with your doctor, you'll know for sure

if he's using the method correctly.

It is important that your doctor has a firm grasp on what is proper

protocol- if he conducts the tenotomy before the foot is ready for

it, odds are that your son will just need another one, which would

result in more scar tissue. The last cast after the tenotomy should

rotate the foot outward (abduct the foot) to an angle of 70°- this

is what you'll see referred to as " over-correction " .

There's lots more to know- but these are just a few things for you

to read about and discuss with your doctor.

I'd also be curious to know where he learned the method, how long

he's been using it, and what his success rate is (avoiding

reconstructive surgery and number of relapses).

Ask lots of questions- we're here to help!

If your son is in good hands, there is nothing to fear- he will be a

normal happy, active boy with happy, active feet. My daughter will

be 6 in March and she's doing great! You can check out her

website if you want- link is below.

Regards,

& (3-16-00, lcf)

http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/