Re: Re: Baby's here...more confused than ever!

[Guest guest]

makes a good point: our midwife had never seen clubfoot and when I

mentioned it to our orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Pirani, he asked me how many babies

I thought she had delivered, about 1000? I said yeah, probably and he just

raised his eyebrows at me and smiled and I had one of those " ooooooh " moments.

If the condition is one in one thousand, then......that was her one! She

didn't even know what to call it to the pediatrician on call that night! I

guess we gave her a " first " that night and there's not too many people who can

say that when a midwife has been delivering for 25 years! She's probably seen

it all!

Anyway, you will get good advice here, the most important piece being " go

with your gut and only YOU know what is best for YOUR baby " . Just ask the

others, I had to fight tooth and nail with my own husband to switch doctors for

our son.

wrote: Congrats on your baby boy!!! What

did you name him and how was your

labour btw?

I would take a copy of the Global Help Booklet. I gave one to our Ped

and he was very interested. If you have a good color printer, even

better, here is the link

>http://www.global-help.org/publications/Ponseti.2Ed.pdf

I have found that the only real experts on clubfoot are doctors that

treat a lot of patients with it....namely Ponseti doctors. Ped's

really don't see it that often so I would take this opportunity to

educate yours as much as you can. It would be great if she could see

your son's uncorrected feet and give them a thorough examination and

then let her see them when they are fully corrected....she will be

amazed I gaurantee!!

Good luck with your appt...so you are seeing Dr. Ponseti on the 19th?

I'm jealous lol, I live far far from Iowa. Anyway, please keep us

updated K

Smiles,

& Grace 22mos

urcf FAB 13hrs

> Our little guy was born May Fourth! And we have our first Ponseti

appt

> May 19th!

>

> Here's my problem...we've gotten four different opinions from four

> different peds! Everything from it's nothing at all...to it's

> positional...to it's something but not clubfeet...to it's mild

> clubfoot and will " correct itself " .

>

> We have e-mailed pics to Dr. P, and are waiting to hear what he

thinks.

>

> However, we are still planning our trip to Iowa...how could you NOT

> make sure???

>

> Problem is, explaining all this to our ped, who is unfamiliar with

the

> Ponseti Method.

>

> I know, it's my decision, and I shouldn't care, but we have a good

> relationship with this doctor, that I would like to continue.

>

> We're taking the little one on Wednesday for a checkup...any

> suggestions about specific materials I could bring her?

>

> I have so much stuff, I'm not sure what would be helpful and what

> wouldn't.

>

> Regardless of whether or not she agrees, we are going...I'd just

like

> to leave on good terms, so to speak!

>

> Any advice most welcome.

>

> BTW, anybody else get the feeling people think we just looked some

> random doctor up on the Internet? Most of the doctors at the

hospital,

> and even some people in my family, seem to think we're seeing some

> kind of quack, despite all the info I keep sending them.

>

> Soooooo frustrating!!!

>

[Guest guest]

,

Congrats on your little man! I've been following this thread and I'm

really glad you sent the pics to Dr. Ponseti. At least now you

know. My daughter had positional Right unilateral clubfoot for about

4 days... till an orthopaedic surgeon looked at her lol. yup, real

live in the flesh clubfoot, albeit mild. I did try hard to believe

it was positional that whole time but alas... my popsicle stick

husband was right (he wanted to splint her foot with popsicle sticks

while I kept saying it'd be fine and would he just knock it

off... cuz all the peds said it was positional) and she did need treatment.

Dr. Ponseti told me she'd need 3-4 casts, she had 5 with the local

Dr. from Dr. Ponseti's list (plus two healing... only the last of

which was abducted to 70 degrees and not by her doctor even) and

finally she was on her way. Her foot is absolutely perfect now,

she's 3yo and I think wonders often what the heck we're talking about

when we speak of crooked feet. You should see her perplexed face

when I show her pictures of her foot, she says no... that's not her

foot and shows me that it's true as she hops and jumps around on that

once L shaped foot without a care in the world.

If I had the opportunity to do over again, I'd be in Iowa instead of

here. Even with a supposedly *mild* clubfoot. You are giving your

son the best gift you ever could by just going and having it fixed by

the master. You could not possibly go wrong (and you will never

wonder if it's being done right, something many of us deal with every

day with this) and will never regret it.

Interestingly enough, severity actually is not known to play any role

in duration of treatment. They cannot tell us which feet have a

better chance at relapse so they all get (deserve) the same protocols

(gradual reduction over first year till walking and 4-5 years total

or as long as the child will tolerate it thereafter). I think for a

while I thought mild meant that she would absolutely never relapse,

now I know that she has the same chances as anyone if she doesn't

wear her FAB and I'm really glad that I did all I did (strict bracing

- long hours whenever we could) even when I thought she probably

didn't need it. This insurance... didn't cost me anything. Love that!

We're 3y into this with 1-2 more to go and I honestly wonder where

time went... Soon it'll be all over. What will I ever do then? lol

Kori

Darbi's Mama

Rt. CF - FAB 10-12, 13, 14... sometimes hr/day (still hard to stop

the 14 when it's so easy! lol)

At 02:35 PM 5/9/2006, you wrote:

>Thanks, everyone, for your advice. Even though it's frustrating, at

>least I know that I'm not alone in this! I knew we were in for it

>when the first doc told us it was " just positional " ...lol...

>

>Anyway, we are proceeding with our planned Iowa appt and will be

>making the drive from Oklahoma to be there on the 22nd.

>

>Dr. P looked at our little guy's pics ( is his name,

>btw!) and says it appears he has mild unilateral clubfoot. So,

>between his e-mail, and the material you have all suggested, I will

>hopefully be well armed when I hit my ped's office tommorow. I

>really like this woman, and am hoping she will be supportive of our

>decision but if not...oh well!

>

>And for those of you who asked how the birth went...it couldn't have

>gone much more smoothly! Ben was two weeks early, but still weighed

>in at 7 pounds 12 ounces, and while he was a little " juicy " at birth

>(my OBYGN's favorite description!) he is absolutely great now.

>

>Thanks all for your support!! I'm sure I'll be much more active in

>this forum now that I'm on maternity leave...look forward to talking

>to you all!

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> > Our little guy was born May Fourth! And we have our first

>Ponseti appt

> > May 19th!

> >

> > Here's my problem...we've gotten four different opinions from

>four

> > different peds! Everything from it's nothing at all...to it's

> > positional...to it's something but not clubfeet...to it's mild

> > clubfoot and will " correct itself " .

> >

> > We have e-mailed pics to Dr. P, and are waiting to hear what he

>thinks.

> >

> > However, we are still planning our trip to Iowa...how could you

>NOT

> > make sure???

> >

> > Problem is, explaining all this to our ped, who is unfamiliar

>with the

> > Ponseti Method.

> >

> > I know, it's my decision, and I shouldn't care, but we have a

>good

> > relationship with this doctor, that I would like to continue.

> >

> > We're taking the little one on Wednesday for a checkup...any

> > suggestions about specific materials I could bring her?

> >

> > I have so much stuff, I'm not sure what would be helpful and

>what

> > wouldn't.

> >

> > Regardless of whether or not she agrees, we are going...I'd just

>like

> > to leave on good terms, so to speak!

> >

> > Any advice most welcome.

> >

> > BTW, anybody else get the feeling people think we just looked

>some

> > random doctor up on the Internet? Most of the doctors at the

>hospital,

> > and even some people in my family, seem to think we're seeing

>some

> > kind of quack, despite all the info I keep sending them.

> >

> > Soooooo frustrating!!!

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Congratulations ! I can't wait to see a picture of him!!! I hope

it's a mild case easily fixed, too! Ben was only one ounce bigger than

Garrison.

The drive from Tulsa to Iowa City is pretty straight foward and easy, you can

make it in one long day if you were inclined to. Sometimes I hop in the back

seat and breast feed the baby while we drive so we don't have to stop... ok so

maybe that is too much information! LOL!

Anyway, we go straight north through Kansas City up to Des Moines then straight

East in to Iowa City on I-80.

Wishing you the best of luck!

shawnee

Re: Baby's here...more confused than ever!

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. Even though it's frustrating, at

least I know that I'm not alone in this! I knew we were in for it

when the first doc told us it was " just positional " ...lol...

Anyway, we are proceeding with our planned Iowa appt and will be

making the drive from Oklahoma to be there on the 22nd.

Dr. P looked at our little guy's pics ( is his name,

btw!) and says it appears he has mild unilateral clubfoot. So,

between his e-mail, and the material you have all suggested, I will

hopefully be well armed when I hit my ped's office tommorow. I

really like this woman, and am hoping she will be supportive of our

decision but if not...oh well!

And for those of you who asked how the birth went...it couldn't have

gone much more smoothly! Ben was two weeks early, but still weighed

in at 7 pounds 12 ounces, and while he was a little " juicy " at birth

(my OBYGN's favorite description!) he is absolutely great now.

Thanks all for your support!! I'm sure I'll be much more active in

this forum now that I'm on maternity leave...look forward to talking

to you all!

> Our little guy was born May Fourth! And we have our first

Ponseti appt

> May 19th!

>

> Here's my problem...we've gotten four different opinions from

four

> different peds! Everything from it's nothing at all...to it's

> positional...to it's something but not clubfeet...to it's mild

> clubfoot and will " correct itself " .

>

> We have e-mailed pics to Dr. P, and are waiting to hear what he

thinks.

>

> However, we are still planning our trip to Iowa...how could you

NOT

> make sure???

>

> Problem is, explaining all this to our ped, who is unfamiliar

with the

> Ponseti Method.

>

> I know, it's my decision, and I shouldn't care, but we have a

good

> relationship with this doctor, that I would like to continue.

>

> We're taking the little one on Wednesday for a checkup...any

> suggestions about specific materials I could bring her?

>

> I have so much stuff, I'm not sure what would be helpful and

what

> wouldn't.

>

> Regardless of whether or not she agrees, we are going...I'd just

like

> to leave on good terms, so to speak!

>

> Any advice most welcome.

>

> BTW, anybody else get the feeling people think we just looked

some

> random doctor up on the Internet? Most of the doctors at the

hospital,

> and even some people in my family, seem to think we're seeing

some

> kind of quack, despite all the info I keep sending them.

>

> Soooooo frustrating!!!

>

>

>

>

>

>

>