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Hi all!

My son Weston was born with a clubfoot on his left side, torticollis

(sp?), and low tone. He received his first cast at 7 days old and

then consecutive casts thereafter for 3 months. The fiberglass casts

were changed every 2-3 weeks. At 3 months old Weston had a heel cord

lengthening surgery (tenotomy?). His leg was then placed in a cast

which was changed again every 2-3 weeks. Then at 5 1/2 months he was

given the DBB. He wore that at first for 18 hours a day then he was

weaned down to 12 hours. He hated the DBB and cried all the time!

After about 3 months with the DBB he began to push down with his

right leg and pull up with his left to get his foot out of the DBB.

We would tighten the DBB as much as possible, but he still managed to

free himself. So our doctor fitted him with an AFO for Weston to

wear when he was sleeping. Weston started pulling up on furniture

around 12 months old. At first his foot was flat, but then gradually

as he was putting more weight on it his left foot reverted back to

its original position. Our doctor wanted us to wait to do anything

until Weston was walking. We disagreed. He seemed to be in pain and

stopped standing up as much. We felt Weston wouldn't walk unless his

foot was flat. We sought another opinion. The new doctor

immediately put Weston in another series of casts, changed every 2

weeks. After that series of casts Weston was fitted with another AFO

for sleeping. Everything seemed fine. Weston started walking at 20

months. At first he was walking on the bottom of his foot. But

again, slowly the foot reverted back to the original position. This

time Weston's physical therapist recommended an AFO for him to wear

all day. We have since been through two sets of AFO's. Weston is

now 2. If he walks barefoot on a hard surface his left foot is

mostly flat. But, if Weston stands on any soft surface like carpet,

our couch or his crib, his foot is completely turned over.

I'm sure his low tone isn't helping any of this. Weston is still in

PT once a week. We are doing the best we know, but it just isn't

good enough.

Because of the advice of some really great ladies, Weston will be

seeing Ponseti next Friday! We are excited and nervous.

I know this is long, but I thought maybe someone would see something

similiar in my story and have some advice.

Cooke

Clayton, NC

Weston - 3/22/04 left clubfoot