New to the Group and seeking advice

June 17, 2006

Greetings to all! I have 2 children with bilateral clubfeet. My

seven year old son was corrected by surgery with Dr. Cole in The

Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. I wasn't prepared for Shaun

because we did not know about his feet until he was born and then

everything started happening so fast. I can say that Shaun seems to

be luckier than most children that had the full surgery because

knock on wood there have been no relapses and his feet look good.

My second child Jenna is now 15 weeks old. She started casting by a

doctor who told us he was Ponseti trained. Her right foot was much

worst than her left foot and casts kept slipping. We started to

panic and they came up with a way to hold her casts on. Her left

foot was basically corrected by the 6th cast. Her right foot is

still not corrected. We are now at sick kids and they started

casting on Wednesday. THey told us she may need 3-4 casts and the

casts look quite different. They think the reason her right foot

didn't correct is because of all the lost casts and the improper

last casts in order to help them stay on. We're scared of course of

something going wrong. I met many people at sick kids that claimed

their children had severe clubfeet and they were corrected with

casting and tentonomy. I am hoping this works for Jenna because I

don't know what else to do. I emailed and spoke to Dr. Ponseti and

he wanted me to go down and get her corrected there. I wish I could

but that is not an option for me right now. I am wondering if

anyone has dealt with the hospital for Sick kids in the last 5

years. Apparently they are totaly Ponseti method and surgery is a

last resort. Infact they told me that in the last two years they

haven't had any clubfoot child undergo surgery. In the last 3 years

before that they maybe had 1-2 children a year have surgery (severe

clubfeet). We are going back on the 22nd and I am debating what to

do. Should I continue with them or go to Kingston. Dr. son

emailed me and said she may be able to help but I guess complex

clubfeet are harder to cure. Any advice would be helpful!

Maddy

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