Results of 's CT Scan of her feet

[Guest guest]

Well we did get the results of 's CT Scan on her feet. Dr.

Ponseti and Dr. Morcuende did agree that due to a ridge in that foot

she will need to have an osteotomy of the tibia on the right leg with

some casting beforehand to get her foot back in alignment. I was so

hoping we could avoid bone surgery, but they know what they are

doing. Her right foot has curled up a little (her foot has gone

from ½ size difference to 1 ½ size smaller) since she got the casts

off in January and it is turning in quite a bit. I suspect it will

take at least 3-4+ casts before surgery to get that foot back in

alignment and then following surgery she will be casted for 6-8 weeks

with no weight bearing on that leg so she'll be back in the

wheelchair. However, they do still want to put off the surgery a

few more months or so to give her more time to strengthen her leg

bone and muscles before surgery. We agree with that and with summer

it will be nice for her to be cast free a few months to swim before

we cast her for 2-3 more months. Also, given that she spent almost

the first three years of her life in an orphanage, she most likely

did not get the nutrition needed for healthy bone growth and all so

giving her more time as long as we are continuing to maintain and

even improve her range of motion in her foot with physical therapy

will help her achieve a healthier outcome. However, they don't want

to wait too long either due to other various physical reasons. The

bummer part of the timing and all is that my brother in Seattle is

getting married the end of August and my sister in California is

getting married the first week of October so we will need to travel

to those weddings in addition to all the casting and surgery in

Iowa. But it will all work out just like it did last year when

was casted for 5 months then. And this time when she's

recovered from the surgery her right foot should be perfect just like

her left foot is now. So in the meantime, we keep doing exercises

everyday as guided by her physical therapist that we see once a week

and keep strengthening those leg muscles. She is doing really well

with her walking now and has come so far. is so much fun

and keeps on going with it all and takes it in stride. She is an

amazing child, and the people we've gotten to know since she came

into our life are truly gifts to us, as well as our friends and

family members that have been with us every step of the way.

We are also grateful to have some more time at home before we travel

back for more casting due to recent events. had another very

scary choking incident this month to where I actually called 911 for

the first time in my life. Luckily I finally got the object

dislodged right after they answered so they didn't have to come out.

As most of you remember, when we first brought home she had a

hard time eating and chewing her food (even after we had her 10

cavities filled which included two crowns and a root canal on her

front tooth- she was still on the bottle when we brought her home and

didn't know what a toothbrush was) which caused her to choke easily.

At that time she had two major choking incidents where she had

absolutely no air before I finally was able to dislodge the object.

She was formally diagnosed with dysphagia, however mechanically there

was nothing wrong with her throat it was more developmental due to

the lack of experience with different textures and foods in the

orphange for almost the first three years of her life we suspect. We

got lined up with a wonderful therapist that worked with her really

well and gave us exercises to do at home everyday for months. This

eventually solved the problem until recently. They say it isn't

uncommon for a person to regress in a learned skill when they

suddenly have to relearn a basic skill (walking) that was totally

natural to them before. And didn't just have to regain the

strength in her legs from being casted to walk again, she also needed

to retrain her brain because she was now walking totally different

using different groups of muscles and all since she was now walking

on the bottoms of her feet with them in front of her rather than

walking on the tops of her feet with them angled backwards. So

needless to say, we are now going to this therapist too on a weekly

basis in addition to doing oral daily exercises and her physical

therapy. We are so lucky we found such good specialists to work with

. Like I said before, she's a trooper about it all. Take

care and have a GREAT week!

Joyce

Proud Mommy to , 01-03-02, bcf