Re: Question for Kassia and Seth

March 5, 2006

Hi Joyce

I copied this email I sent to another parent back in January...sorry I didn't

have time to retype the whole thing.

Dr Dietz could tell at Jake's first follow-up appt after his

first surgery, that he would probably need the surgery re-done. The tendon had

pulled out a bit from the bone and wasn't working well at pulling his foot

upwards. There was a little lump on the top of his foot where the tendon was

placed. Dr Dietz said this was because of the tendon pulling out.

Jake's main symptom was that he didn't lift his foot well while walking. It

looked kind of like foot-drop, if you've ever seen that. His foot didn't curve

inwards, it was still pretty straight. Let me be perfectly clear though, this

didn't slow Jake down in the least. He could walk & run just like the other

kids, never complained of any pain, and never seemed to get tired easily or

anything. Our concern, and why we went ahead with another ATTT so soon, was

because Jake's foot was still very flexible. If we waited too long and his foot

started to stiffen up, then he would have required surgery involving the joint

spaces (which can cause kids foot pain as adults).

Let me know if you need more info or have more questions!

Kassia

3/22/01 (Lt clubfoot, ATTT #2 Oct 2005)

and 1/22/02

March 5, 2006

Forgot to include- Jake sees Dr. Dietz at the University of Iowa; he works with

Dr. Ponseti. I asked him about getting a second opinion when we were first

considering re-doing the ATTT surgery, and he said that all of the doctors in

that office would say the same thing. He said that he could refer us to a

clinic in Minneapolis or Milwaukee to see a different doctor, but then we'd have

had problems with insurance etc. So Dr. Dietz did do Jake's second surgery too,

and Jake is doing wonderful now.

Kassia

3/22/01 (Lt clubfoot, ATTT #2 Oct 2005)

and 11/22/02

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