Guest guest Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Connie, Thanks for your info! It helps me to realize that I'm not the only one feeling like a " baby " about the braces. I did feel like the first week was a kind of archaic torture & I would look at kids/teenagers and wonder how they seemed to adjust just fine while all I wanted to do was complain about my hurting mouth! It must be harder for Adults? to have braces... I'm also glad to know that the time will fly as tomorrow it will have been two weeks for me with the braces on, but all I can think about is how slow time has gone! Luckily I am starting to eat more " normal " foods now... Thanks again for your support. Debbie > > > > > > > > Hi All! > > > > > > > > I am so glad that I found this support group! I am a 45 year > old > > > > woman (I don't feel that old)and just got braces less than 1 > 1/2 > > > > weeks ago. In July I am supposed to have Palatal Expansion > > Surgery > > > > (upper jaw only) and feel like I need a lot more information > > > > (regarding procedures, stay in hospital?, recovery period, > > etc.). I > > > > have to admit that I am concerned as the adjustment to braces > > has > > > > been hard for me. In the first week my mouth was extremely > sore > > (I > > > > couldn't concentrate on much of anything) and in this second > > week I > > > > find myself depressed. Is this normal? Shouldn't I be happy > that > > I > > > > will eventually look better (I am doing the brace/surgery > thing > > as > > > > my back teeth are wearing down/I was also a thumb sucker for > > many > > > > years when I was young). > > > > > > > > My husband is tired of hearing me complain (and my twin > children > > > who > > > > are almost 8 definitely don't need to hear it - especially > since > > my > > > > daughter will definitely need braces also). Has anyone else > out > > > > there suffered the blues in the beginning of having braces and > > pre- > > > > surgery? > > > > > > > > Thanks for listening. Right now I'm drinking Chardonnay and > > feeling > > > > sorry for myself.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 23, 2005 Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Our doctor told us that she has never seen a child with clubfoot that did not have some kind of toe issues. Kelsey's toes also curve toward the center and even her toenails grow with a curve to them. We were told that it is really just a cosmetic issue with her. If you are concerned, I would discuss it with your doctor and get their opinion. Jenni Carol wrote: Hi there! My beautiful daughter was born almost a month ago with bilateral club feet. She is being treated with the Ponseti method. I have a couple of questions. First of all, both of her big toes curve inward toward her other toes and the second toe on her left foot sticks way up. Is this common for babies born with club feet? The toes do not look to be in a normal position even when the feet are held in a corrected position. (She has moderate club feet which are responding very well to the casts and her right foot is almost at correction with two casts. She will not need a tenotomy on that foot.) Also, after we removed her second cast, her legs were bruised and her orthopedist recommended that we take a 10 day break with the casting to give them time to heal. Her orthopedist was trained by Dr. Ponseti and appears to be very careful and precise so we don't believe he caused the problem with carelessness or ignorance. My theory is that she grew too quickly for the casts. We are very tall people and have big kids who grow quickly so I think that is what happened. Has anyone else had this experience? I am very new at dealing with this issue. I had three other children without club feet before was born so I have lots of questions. I look forward to getting some information and practical tips and support here. I don't know anyone with a child with club feet so I feel pretty alone in my struggle with . Thanks in advance for any help, Carol, mom to four kids, including an absolutely perfect baby girl with club feet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Oh, that's why there were bruised!!!!! HA! Hey, I'm just kidding, I know that feeling of checking toes all the time so I had to toss that in! s. Her toes were fine. I was obsessively checking them for a good return blood flow when pressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 If any consolation here Everett is going on 2 1/2 years old and people who are un-aware of his cf condition don't know by looking at hs feet. The funky toe syndrom seems to eventually vanish. Also, mom currently has a foster infant about 3 weeks old with perfectly normal feet yet his pinky toes curl under really weird. s. Re: Newbie here Hi Carol, Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Funny toes seem pretty common around here. I don't think that they have 'linked' it to clubfoot but it does seem that lots of our kids have these funny toes. Grace too has these funny lil toes but they look better already (she is 16 mos now) and they are looking better all the time. 's toes will probably straighten out over time as well. If you join the clubfoot pics group, you can share pics with the group and there is a file there in the photo's section with pics of some funny lil baby toes. The link is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFPics/<http://health.groups.yahoo.com/grou\ p/CFPics/> Grace was also a pretty big and chunky baby (she has grown nicely into her chub I am happy to say lol) and outgrew her last casts. She had terrible bruising and open wounds on her leg (she is unilateral right). We kept her out of a cast for a week to let her leg heal and then went into the brace. She was actually corrected to about an 85 degree outward rotation and her foot didn't end up needing another cast, we went right into the FAB. It is more common though I think to have a healing cast and it sounds like the right thing for . Grace was overcorrected so much and her foot was pretty loose (didn't need a tenotomy), that's why I think our doctor let her out for that week. Also, I was amazed at how fast her leg healed, it was better in a few days. There are pics of it (still a bit hard for me to look at) on the cfpics site in the photos section in the casts folder I think. Anyway, glad that you have a good Ponseti doctor that you are confident in and welcome to the group, you will find this board an amazing place, great people, great advise and lots of laughs. & Grace 16 mos Unilateral rcf FAB 13 hrs > > Hi there! > > My beautiful daughter was born almost a month ago with > bilateral club feet. She is being treated with the Ponseti method. > I have a couple of questions. First of all, both of her big toes > curve inward toward her other toes and the second toe on her left > foot sticks way up. Is this common for babies born with club feet? > The toes do not look to be in a normal position even when the feet > are held in a corrected position. (She has moderate club feet which > are responding very well to the casts and her right foot is almost > at correction with two casts. She will not need a tenotomy on that > foot.) > > Also, after we removed her second cast, her legs were bruised and > her orthopedist recommended that we take a 10 day break with the > casting to give them time to heal. Her orthopedist was trained by > Dr. Ponseti and appears to be very careful and precise so we don't > believe he caused the problem with carelessness or ignorance. My > theory is that she grew too quickly for the casts. We are very tall > people and have big kids who grow quickly so I think that is what > happened. Has anyone else had this experience? > > I am very new at dealing with this issue. I had three other > children without club feet before was born so I have lots of > questions. I look forward to getting some information and practical > tips and support here. I don't know anyone with a child with club > feet so I feel pretty alone in my struggle with . Thanks in > advance for any help, > > Carol, mom to four kids, including an absolutely perfect baby girl > with club feet > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Hi , 's casts were changed at one week intervals. We got the first one when she was a week old and the second one when she was two weeks old. That second one was the one which caused the bruising so we are a break and will be recasted this coming Monday. I am doing stretches on her feet (stretching them into the correct position as long as she tolerates it) multiple times a day at the request of her orthopedist. I can't tell if she has gone back to square one or not. Her feet are very flexible, which is obviously a good starting point. We are in the Fort Worth, Texas area and are being treated at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth by Dr. Hinton Hamilton of the Cook's orthopedic group. I would love to hook up with any other parents of kids with cf in this area. I feel very alone in this. And I have learned that the general public is not well-informed at all about cf or the treatments. It would be nice to know some folks that I don't have to explain everything to because they are living it themselves. Anyway, thank you for your reply and the link to the Ponseti information. Carol Re: Newbie here Welcome, Carol and ! I can't help you with the curly-toes thing. Some extreme cases where the toe bends under the foot are treated by " clipping " the tendon. Some toes are taped to the other toes to help them straighten out, and others are just left alone. Hopefully your doctor can give you some advice on the tootsies. How often is your doctor changing 's cast? If she's growing too fast over the 7 day period, they've actually shown that the casts can be changed every 5 days with success. Dr. Ponseti uses this " every 5 day change " for families who have traveled to Iowa City for treatment to shorten their length of stay. Since will be out of the cast for 10 days, it's most likely that she will lose all of the correction that she had. Hopefully, it will go better the second time around for you. If you don't mind sharing- what doctor/hospital is treating ? There is a lot of good information in the files, links, and photos sections on this site. Hopefully it will help you out. If you're interested in researching some- here's a link to a website with lists of Internet links concerning the Ponseti method: http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_links-ivil<http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_l\ inks-ivil> I hope this helps- Regards, & (3-16-00, left clubfoot) http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/<http://ponseticlubfoot.freeservers.com/> > > Hi there! > > My beautiful daughter was born almost a month ago with > bilateral club feet. She is being treated with the Ponseti method. > I have a couple of questions. First of all, both of her big toes > curve inward toward her other toes and the second toe on her left > foot sticks way up. Is this common for babies born with club feet? > The toes do not look to be in a normal position even when the feet > are held in a corrected position. (She has moderate club feet which > are responding very well to the casts and her right foot is almost > at correction with two casts. She will not need a tenotomy on that > foot.) > > Also, after we removed her second cast, her legs were bruised and > her orthopedist recommended that we take a 10 day break with the > casting to give them time to heal. Her orthopedist was trained by > Dr. Ponseti and appears to be very careful and precise so we don't > believe he caused the problem with carelessness or ignorance. My > theory is that she grew too quickly for the casts. We are very tall > people and have big kids who grow quickly so I think that is what > happened. Has anyone else had this experience? > > I am very new at dealing with this issue. I had three other > children without club feet before was born so I have lots of > questions. I look forward to getting some information and practical > tips and support here. I don't know anyone with a child with club > feet so I feel pretty alone in my struggle with . Thanks in > advance for any help, > > Carol, mom to four kids, including an absolutely perfect baby girl > with club feet > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Her toes were fine. I was obsessively checking them for a good return blood flow when pressed. They were pink and healthy and not affected. The bruising was on her legs under the casts, mostly her lower legs. Her casts have been changed every week but we are going to discuss changing them more frequently since she had the bruising. I know that the Ponseti method is compatible with more frequent cast changes and our orthopedist is open to our input on this, I think. Thank you for your feedback! Carol Newbie here Hi there! My beautiful daughter was born almost a month ago with bilateral club feet. She is being treated with the Ponseti method. I have a couple of questions. First of all, both of her big toes curve inward toward her other toes and the second toe on her left foot sticks way up. Is this common for babies born with club feet? The toes do not look to be in a normal position even when the feet are held in a corrected position. (She has moderate club feet which are responding very well to the casts and her right foot is almost at correction with two casts. She will not need a tenotomy on that foot.) Also, after we removed her second cast, her legs were bruised and her orthopedist recommended that we take a 10 day break with the casting to give them time to heal. Her orthopedist was trained by Dr. Ponseti and appears to be very careful and precise so we don't believe he caused the problem with carelessness or ignorance. My theory is that she grew too quickly for the casts. We are very tall people and have big kids who grow quickly so I think that is what happened. Has anyone else had this experience? I am very new at dealing with this issue. I had three other children without club feet before was born so I have lots of questions. I look forward to getting some information and practical tips and support here. I don't know anyone with a child with club feet so I feel pretty alone in my struggle with . Thanks in advance for any help, Carol, mom to four kids, including an absolutely perfect baby girl with club feet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 , Thank you for the link to join the pictures group. I will look at the pictures there for the same toes that has and I'm sure will feel better once I see other babies/children with toes like hers or with similar appearance. It is hard to imagine how they will look once her feet are corrected and she is walking. I wonder if the toes will straighten out some once they are used for their purpose of walking. Thank you for sharing your experience with Grace, also. I am very glad to have the experience of other parents! Carol Re: Newbie here Hi Carol, Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Funny toes seem pretty common around here. I don't think that they have 'linked' it to clubfoot but it does seem that lots of our kids have these funny toes. Grace too has these funny lil toes but they look better already (she is 16 mos now) and they are looking better all the time. 's toes will probably straighten out over time as well. If you join the clubfoot pics group, you can share pics with the group and there is a file there in the photo's section with pics of some funny lil baby toes. The link is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/CFPics/<http://health.groups.yahoo.com/grou\ p/CFPics/> Grace was also a pretty big and chunky baby (she has grown nicely into her chub I am happy to say lol) and outgrew her last casts. She had terrible bruising and open wounds on her leg (she is unilateral right). We kept her out of a cast for a week to let her leg heal and then went into the brace. She was actually corrected to about an 85 degree outward rotation and her foot didn't end up needing another cast, we went right into the FAB. It is more common though I think to have a healing cast and it sounds like the right thing for . Grace was overcorrected so much and her foot was pretty loose (didn't need a tenotomy), that's why I think our doctor let her out for that week. Also, I was amazed at how fast her leg healed, it was better in a few days. There are pics of it (still a bit hard for me to look at) on the cfpics site in the photos section in the casts folder I think. Anyway, glad that you have a good Ponseti doctor that you are confident in and welcome to the group, you will find this board an amazing place, great people, great advise and lots of laughs. & Grace 16 mos Unilateral rcf FAB 13 hrs > > Hi there! > > My beautiful daughter was born almost a month ago with > bilateral club feet. She is being treated with the Ponseti method. > I have a couple of questions. First of all, both of her big toes > curve inward toward her other toes and the second toe on her left > foot sticks way up. Is this common for babies born with club feet? > The toes do not look to be in a normal position even when the feet > are held in a corrected position. (She has moderate club feet which > are responding very well to the casts and her right foot is almost > at correction with two casts. She will not need a tenotomy on that > foot.) > > Also, after we removed her second cast, her legs were bruised and > her orthopedist recommended that we take a 10 day break with the > casting to give them time to heal. Her orthopedist was trained by > Dr. Ponseti and appears to be very careful and precise so we don't > believe he caused the problem with carelessness or ignorance. My > theory is that she grew too quickly for the casts. We are very tall > people and have big kids who grow quickly so I think that is what > happened. Has anyone else had this experience? > > I am very new at dealing with this issue. I had three other > children without club feet before was born so I have lots of > questions. I look forward to getting some information and practical > tips and support here. I don't know anyone with a child with club > feet so I feel pretty alone in my struggle with . Thanks in > advance for any help, > > Carol, mom to four kids, including an absolutely perfect baby girl > with club feet > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 24, 2005 Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 Jenni, That is really good to hear and reassures me. Thanks so much for sharing! Carol Re: Newbie here Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. Our doctor told us that she has never seen a child with clubfoot that did not have some kind of toe issues. Kelsey's toes also curve toward the center and even her toenails grow with a curve to them. We were told that it is really just a cosmetic issue with her. If you are concerned, I would discuss it with your doctor and get their opinion. Jenni Carol wrote: Hi there! My beautiful daughter was born almost a month ago with bilateral club feet. She is being treated with the Ponseti method. I have a couple of questions. First of all, both of her big toes curve inward toward her other toes and the second toe on her left foot sticks way up. Is this common for babies born with club feet? The toes do not look to be in a normal position even when the feet are held in a corrected position. (She has moderate club feet which are responding very well to the casts and her right foot is almost at correction with two casts. She will not need a tenotomy on that foot.) Also, after we removed her second cast, her legs were bruised and her orthopedist recommended that we take a 10 day break with the casting to give them time to heal. Her orthopedist was trained by Dr. Ponseti and appears to be very careful and precise so we don't believe he caused the problem with carelessness or ignorance. My theory is that she grew too quickly for the casts. We are very tall people and have big kids who grow quickly so I think that is what happened. Has anyone else had this experience? I am very new at dealing with this issue. I had three other children without club feet before was born so I have lots of questions. I look forward to getting some information and practical tips and support here. I don't know anyone with a child with club feet so I feel pretty alone in my struggle with . Thanks in advance for any help, Carol, mom to four kids, including an absolutely perfect baby girl with club feet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.