Re: Looking for a good Dr - Congrats on bringing home your son soon!

[Guest guest]

Congratulations on getting ready to travel to China to bring home

your son! We were blessed with our sweet little girl when she walked

into my arms in China at the age of 34 months. We brought her home

walking, running, and jumping on her sweet little clubfeet. She was

amazing. How she did it none of us know, as she walked totally on

the tops of her feet with them pointing backwards as she walked. If

you have questions about traveling to China and what to expect with

the adoption process please let me know. I don't know if you've

traveled there before. For us, that was our first time. We were

fortunate to be involved in a China Waiting Family group before we

traveled where we gained a lot of tips that helped our trip go so

smooth. However, when we were over there a few times my husband and

I would look at each other and say, " Wish we had known this one, " and

we have made sure to pass those tips onto others. It was absolutely

the most beautiful and incredible trip of our life! did so

well adjusting. I am so excited for you and your family! We want to

go back so much.

You said you live near the Denver area. I love Colorado, as I worked

for two summers during college in Rocky Mountain National Park. That

is such a beautiful and peaceful place to me. Those were two

incredibly, wonderful, and fun summers I'll never forget!!!

I'm glad you are looking at traveling out of state for doctors for

your son. There is a family that I was fortunate to meet who

actually moved to Iowa from the Denver area after their daughter was

treated for her clubfeet with multiple surgeries rather than the

Ponseti Method at Denver Children's Hospital as an infant. Ponseti

did get their daughter walking and out of her wheelchair, however the

damage was so extensive from what the other doctors had done

previously in Denver that she still has major problems today with her

feet as a 6 year old. You are so smart to already know you want a

Ponseti trained doctor and to be a member of this group. Way to go!

Everyone is amazing here and will help you anyway we can.

's feet were untreated when we brought her home like your

son's are. That was comforting to me because we all know how poor

the quality of medical care is over there. This way I knew we could

choose her doctors and we could be there to comfort her during the

process. We have a wonderful Ponseti trained doctor here in Boise

that several of the families from this group travel to for their

child. His name is Dr. Buzz Showalter at Intermountain Orthopaedics,

1- and I have heard nothing but great things about him

from people locally as well as this group. We tried several times to

schedule a consult with him, but he would not do it because he felt

was too old and too severe of a case for him to take on after

reviewing pictures. I appreciated his honesty and feel like he is a

true professional for knowing his limits. His office has been very

good to us about helping us any time I call with questions. They

helped us find a great local pediatric physical therapist for

, where to go for the CT Scan Dr. Ponseti wanted done, and

also recommended a wonderful orthotist. I know right now there is a

lady in town that I met who just brought her 20 month old daughter

home last month from China with a clubfoot. She has family in Iowa,

so she thought about traveling out there but she was so impressed

with Dr. Showalter that she decided to stay right here after she met

with him and he said he felt he could treat her daughter without any

reservation. She has been very pleased with him, just like I know

Faith and are from this group.

You had mentioned you are possibly considering traveling to Utah.

Please do not take your son there! I researched many doctors for

before we brought her home from China just as you are. We

were having a hard time finding doctors that had experience with

older untreated children as I'm sure you are discovering in your

search. Unless they travel to third world countries they usually do

not get that experience. Unfortunately we did not know about this

group and we chose to go to Utah. We first traveled to Shriner's at

Salt Lake City to see Dr. Santora who we were told used the Ponseti

casting method. Plus we were excited that he had experience with

older children with untreated clubfeet. He had successfully treated

many older children, one being an eight year old boy from Mexico who

had feet just like 's. He said with the older kids the

casting method does not work due to their age and all the walking

they've done, therefore they would need to do surgery first (they

planned to have the O.R. for the day because her case was so

involved) and then some casting. Our first trip there was

wonderful. I felt so confident. However, with our second trip my

motherly instinct told me he was definitely not the right doctor and

after questioning him more I discovered that he did not follow the

Ponseti method 100% and he was not fully trained in it, he only

attended one class. That was disheartening to me, as I felt they had

been dishonest with us about such an important issue. They had also

decided they would now need to do 2 surgeries instead of one.

I had no idea where to turn to at this point. Even our own family

doctor had no clue where I could go for more info and he's really

knowledgeable about specialists. However, one night I had the luck of

coming across the Ponseti List of Qualified Physicians at

http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/medicaldepartments/orthopaedics/

clubfeet/physicians.htm when I was searching the internet for

answers. I e-mailed many of the doctors on this list about 's

situation and only 3 of the docs had experience with older children.

I then began communicating with them over the course of a few weeks

and they were wonderful. I was very impressed with Dr. Dobbs

in St. Louis, Missouri at mattdobbs@..., 1- or

1-, and I also enjoyed talking to Dr. Kent in

Tucson, Arizona and Dr. Hyman from New York, NY. They were all 3

wonderful to talk to and gave me so much of their time returning all

of my phone calls. All 3 said they felt she could definitely benefit

from the casting and minimize surgey. My husband and I decided we

would go see Dr. Dobbs in Missouri, but then on a whim one day I

decided to call Dr. Ponseti himself and that's where we ended up

going. It ends up is the oldest untreated child he had ever

treated and I think her right foot was the most severe he's seen.

She had 17 cast changes and only a 2.5 hour surgery at the end.

(Remember for your son his treatment should be less involved as he's

much younger.) I did have the pleasure of meeting Dr. Dobbs last

fall when he came to Iowa for Dr. Ponseti's annual symposium. He was

wonderful! I would feel very good taking to him and I think

he would be an excellent doctor as well for your son, however, I'm

not sure how close you are to St. Louis, Missouri. He does practice

at both the Children's Hospital and Shriner's Hospital which he is

great about getting you into there if you prefer so the medical costs

are covered 100%.

The great plus you have on your side is that your son being bilateral

clubfeet most likely is not walking on his own yet. We were told

that at 19 months old was walking with assistance, but not

all by herself yet. The fact that she had walked, ran, and jumped

on her feet for so long on her own before treatment was something

that complicated her treatment. And the doctors in Utah told us she

was fine to be so active on her feet while we were waiting for

treatment because her feet didn't hurt her. So unfortunately we

didn't slow her down any, we encouraged her activity. Therefore,

with this factor removed your son should be even easier to treat.

Even if he is walking he hasn't been doing it for long. And at his

age he should be fairly easy to treat. Heck, if they can correct

being 3.5 years at the start of her treatment, the Ponseti

Method will work for your son as well.

As far as flights that was always a big expense to us. Here's some

info on different organizations that can help ease that burden. We

were able to get two free tickets for and I through NWA once

which helped a lot. I would highly recommend Angel Flight to you,

too. I heard great things about them from several other families who

fly to all their doctor's appointments out of state that way and they

love it. Unfortunately for us we are over the 1000 mile distance

limit one way when we travel back to Iowa so we could not use them.

We did almost end up using them to fly from Boise to Denver one time

when we were having trouble getting a commercial flight out of here

on short notice to get back to Iowa. We needed them to get us to a

major Hub, Denver, then we had many more choices and could get into

Iowa that way. At the last minute there was a cancellation that came

through for us commercially so we didn't fly Angel Flight.

--Northwest Airlines, Kid Cares Program,

www.nwa.com/corpinfo/aircares/about/kidcares.html, 1-

--Angel Flight, www.angelflight.com , 1- and they are

GREAT!

--Miracle Flights for Kids, www.miracleflights.com, 1-

--TWA Operation Liftoff, www.operationliftoff.com, 1-

--Midwest Express Miracle Miles, contact Fuerst 1-

--American Airlines, Advantage Miles for Kids in Need,

1-, www.awishwithwings.org/AAKids.htm

If your son was over 2 years old I would tell you to go to Ponseti,

but given that he will probably be around a year old I think you have

many more options. I don't know exactly which doctor to tell you to

go to, but I do know that Dr. Buzz Showalter in Boise is wonderful

and Dr. Dobbs in St. Louis, Missouri is outstanding as well. If you

decide to come out to Boise, please contact me as I'd love to get

together with you. As far as the other doctors on the list some of

the others in this group know more about them individually than what

I do. If there's other doctors you want to know about I'd definitely

recommend running their name by the group and see what feedback you

get. Good luck to you on your journey to bring your son home and

finding the right doctor for him! You can see pictures of 's

progress in an album in CFPics Yahoo! I won't get to post the pics

in the album until tomorrow.

Amazingly enough right after we made the decision to change to Dr.

Ponseti in August, 's nurse coordinator in Utah called us to

talk about a few things. He said Dr. Santora wanted to see my

husband and I before the first surgery (which was scheduled for

October 10th). We hadn't cancelled anything with Utah yet as we

wanted to get out to Iowa and make sure this time we were in the

right place. So I said to him, " When does he want to see ? "

His response was he wanted to see US not her so we could talk face to

face. That threw me, so I asked why would he want to see us and not

, especially when we have to travel out of state. Her nurse

coordinator responded, " You and I have talked so much over the phone

that I'll just tell you. He is concerned about the severity of her

case and feels she will probably end up being an amputation case even

after all the treatment that is planned for her. " Needless to say,

at that point I just told him we were going to call him next week

after things were more settled but they could just take us off their

surgery schedule now as we were headed out to Iowa in a few days to

see Dr. Ponseti. He was amazed! So you can see why we call Dr.

Ponseti and his method a true miracle for our daughter. Today her

left foot is perfect, but her right foot will need a little more work

in the Fall as that was the more severe foot to begin with that

developed a ridge from all the walking and pounding she did on her

feet prior to treatment. I thank God everyday that I listened to my

gut as a mom and we did not stay in Utah. (Even though I had a few

family members VERY mad at me for changing doctors.) Her feet are

pain free and now she can wear shoes bought from a store!!! Please

feel free to call me if you want to talk more. Just e-mail me

privately and we can exchange numbers.

Joyce

Proud Mommy to , 01-03-02, bcf

>

> Thanks for the info on Dr's in Colorado. I may be going to Utah

does

> any one know of any good Dr's there who may have experiance with

> children around a year when they are first starting treatment for

bcf.

>

[Guest guest]

Correction: I meant to say if your child was over 2 years old with

untreated clubfeet I would recommend either Dr. Ponseti or Dr.

Dobbs. I accidentally left out Dr. Dobbs in my previous message. He

does have a lot of experience with older children as well. And of

course, Ponseti is the master!!!--- Joyce

nosurgery4clubfoot , " childrenloveall "

wrote:

>

> Congratulations on getting ready to travel to China to bring home

> your son! We were blessed with our sweet little girl when she

walked

> into my arms in China at the age of 34 months. We brought her home

> walking, running, and jumping on her sweet little clubfeet. She

was

> amazing. How she did it none of us know, as she walked totally on

> the tops of her feet with them pointing backwards as she walked.

If

> you have questions about traveling to China and what to expect with

> the adoption process please let me know. I don't know if you've

> traveled there before. For us, that was our first time. We were

> fortunate to be involved in a China Waiting Family group before we

> traveled where we gained a lot of tips that helped our trip go so

> smooth. However, when we were over there a few times my husband

and

> I would look at each other and say, " Wish we had known this one, "

and

> we have made sure to pass those tips onto others. It was

absolutely

> the most beautiful and incredible trip of our life! did so

> well adjusting. I am so excited for you and your family! We want

to

> go back so much.

>

> You said you live near the Denver area. I love Colorado, as I

worked

> for two summers during college in Rocky Mountain National Park.

That

> is such a beautiful and peaceful place to me. Those were two

> incredibly, wonderful, and fun summers I'll never forget!!!

>

> I'm glad you are looking at traveling out of state for doctors for

> your son. There is a family that I was fortunate to meet who

> actually moved to Iowa from the Denver area after their daughter

was

> treated for her clubfeet with multiple surgeries rather than the

> Ponseti Method at Denver Children's Hospital as an infant. Ponseti

> did get their daughter walking and out of her wheelchair, however

the

> damage was so extensive from what the other doctors had done

> previously in Denver that she still has major problems today with

her

> feet as a 6 year old. You are so smart to already know you want a

> Ponseti trained doctor and to be a member of this group. Way to

go!

> Everyone is amazing here and will help you anyway we can.

>

> 's feet were untreated when we brought her home like your

> son's are. That was comforting to me because we all know how poor

> the quality of medical care is over there. This way I knew we

could

> choose her doctors and we could be there to comfort her during the

> process. We have a wonderful Ponseti trained doctor here in Boise

> that several of the families from this group travel to for their

> child. His name is Dr. Buzz Showalter at Intermountain

Orthopaedics,

> 1- and I have heard nothing but great things about him

> from people locally as well as this group. We tried several times

to

> schedule a consult with him, but he would not do it because he felt

> was too old and too severe of a case for him to take on

after

> reviewing pictures. I appreciated his honesty and feel like he is

a

> true professional for knowing his limits. His office has been very

> good to us about helping us any time I call with questions. They

> helped us find a great local pediatric physical therapist for

> , where to go for the CT Scan Dr. Ponseti wanted done, and

> also recommended a wonderful orthotist. I know right now there is

a

> lady in town that I met who just brought her 20 month old daughter

> home last month from China with a clubfoot. She has family in

Iowa,

> so she thought about traveling out there but she was so impressed

> with Dr. Showalter that she decided to stay right here after she

met

> with him and he said he felt he could treat her daughter without

any

> reservation. She has been very pleased with him, just like I know

> Faith and are from this group.

>

> You had mentioned you are possibly considering traveling to Utah.

> Please do not take your son there! I researched many doctors for

> before we brought her home from China just as you are. We

> were having a hard time finding doctors that had experience with

> older untreated children as I'm sure you are discovering in your

> search. Unless they travel to third world countries they usually

do

> not get that experience. Unfortunately we did not know about this

> group and we chose to go to Utah. We first traveled to Shriner's

at

> Salt Lake City to see Dr. Santora who we were told used the Ponseti

> casting method. Plus we were excited that he had experience with

> older children with untreated clubfeet. He had successfully

treated

> many older children, one being an eight year old boy from Mexico

who

> had feet just like 's. He said with the older kids the

> casting method does not work due to their age and all the walking

> they've done, therefore they would need to do surgery first (they

> planned to have the O.R. for the day because her case was so

> involved) and then some casting. Our first trip there was

> wonderful. I felt so confident. However, with our second trip my

> motherly instinct told me he was definitely not the right doctor

and

> after questioning him more I discovered that he did not follow the

> Ponseti method 100% and he was not fully trained in it, he only

> attended one class. That was disheartening to me, as I felt they

had

> been dishonest with us about such an important issue. They had

also

> decided they would now need to do 2 surgeries instead of one.

>

> I had no idea where to turn to at this point. Even our own family

> doctor had no clue where I could go for more info and he's really

> knowledgeable about specialists. However, one night I had the luck

of

> coming across the Ponseti List of Qualified Physicians at

> http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/medicaldepartments/orthopaedics/

> clubfeet/physicians.htm when I was searching the internet for

> answers. I e-mailed many of the doctors on this list about

's

> situation and only 3 of the docs had experience with older

children.

> I then began communicating with them over the course of a few weeks

> and they were wonderful. I was very impressed with Dr.

Dobbs

> in St. Louis, Missouri at mattdobbs@..., 1- or

> 1-, and I also enjoyed talking to Dr. Kent in

> Tucson, Arizona and Dr. Hyman from New York, NY. They were all 3

> wonderful to talk to and gave me so much of their time returning

all

> of my phone calls. All 3 said they felt she could definitely

benefit

> from the casting and minimize surgey. My husband and I decided we

> would go see Dr. Dobbs in Missouri, but then on a whim one day I

> decided to call Dr. Ponseti himself and that's where we ended up

> going. It ends up is the oldest untreated child he had

ever

> treated and I think her right foot was the most severe he's seen.

> She had 17 cast changes and only a 2.5 hour surgery at the end.

> (Remember for your son his treatment should be less involved as

he's

> much younger.) I did have the pleasure of meeting Dr. Dobbs last

> fall when he came to Iowa for Dr. Ponseti's annual symposium. He

was

> wonderful! I would feel very good taking to him and I

think

> he would be an excellent doctor as well for your son, however, I'm

> not sure how close you are to St. Louis, Missouri. He does

practice

> at both the Children's Hospital and Shriner's Hospital which he is

> great about getting you into there if you prefer so the medical

costs

> are covered 100%.

>

> The great plus you have on your side is that your son being

bilateral

> clubfeet most likely is not walking on his own yet. We were told

> that at 19 months old was walking with assistance, but not

> all by herself yet. The fact that she had walked, ran, and jumped

> on her feet for so long on her own before treatment was something

> that complicated her treatment. And the doctors in Utah told us

she

> was fine to be so active on her feet while we were waiting for

> treatment because her feet didn't hurt her. So unfortunately we

> didn't slow her down any, we encouraged her activity. Therefore,

> with this factor removed your son should be even easier to treat.

> Even if he is walking he hasn't been doing it for long. And at his

> age he should be fairly easy to treat. Heck, if they can correct

> being 3.5 years at the start of her treatment, the Ponseti

> Method will work for your son as well.

>

> As far as flights that was always a big expense to us. Here's some

> info on different organizations that can help ease that burden.

We

> were able to get two free tickets for and I through NWA

once

> which helped a lot. I would highly recommend Angel Flight to you,

> too. I heard great things about them from several other families

who

> fly to all their doctor's appointments out of state that way and

they

> love it. Unfortunately for us we are over the 1000 mile distance

> limit one way when we travel back to Iowa so we could not use

them.

> We did almost end up using them to fly from Boise to Denver one

time

> when we were having trouble getting a commercial flight out of here

> on short notice to get back to Iowa. We needed them to get us to a

> major Hub, Denver, then we had many more choices and could get

into

> Iowa that way. At the last minute there was a cancellation that

came

> through for us commercially so we didn't fly Angel Flight.

> --Northwest Airlines, Kid Cares Program,

> www.nwa.com/corpinfo/aircares/about/kidcares.html, 1-

> --Angel Flight, www.angelflight.com , 1- and they are

> GREAT!

> --Miracle Flights for Kids, www.miracleflights.com, 1-

> --TWA Operation Liftoff, www.operationliftoff.com, 1-

> --Midwest Express Miracle Miles, contact Fuerst 1-414-570-

3644

> --American Airlines, Advantage Miles for Kids in Need,

> 1-, www.awishwithwings.org/AAKids.htm

>

>

> If your son was over 2 years old I would tell you to go to Ponseti,

> but given that he will probably be around a year old I think you

have

> many more options. I don't know exactly which doctor to tell you

to

> go to, but I do know that Dr. Buzz Showalter in Boise is wonderful

> and Dr. Dobbs in St. Louis, Missouri is outstanding as well. If

you

> decide to come out to Boise, please contact me as I'd love to get

> together with you. As far as the other doctors on the list some of

> the others in this group know more about them individually than

what

> I do. If there's other doctors you want to know about I'd

definitely

> recommend running their name by the group and see what feedback you

> get. Good luck to you on your journey to bring your son home and

> finding the right doctor for him! You can see pictures of

's

> progress in an album in CFPics Yahoo! I won't get to post the pics

> in the album until tomorrow.

>

> Amazingly enough right after we made the decision to change to Dr.

> Ponseti in August, 's nurse coordinator in Utah called us to

> talk about a few things. He said Dr. Santora wanted to see my

> husband and I before the first surgery (which was scheduled for

> October 10th). We hadn't cancelled anything with Utah yet as we

> wanted to get out to Iowa and make sure this time we were in the

> right place. So I said to him, " When does he want to see

? "

> His response was he wanted to see US not her so we could talk face

to

> face. That threw me, so I asked why would he want to see us and

not

> , especially when we have to travel out of state. Her nurse

> coordinator responded, " You and I have talked so much over the

phone

> that I'll just tell you. He is concerned about the severity of her

> case and feels she will probably end up being an amputation case

even

> after all the treatment that is planned for her. " Needless to say,

> at that point I just told him we were going to call him next week

> after things were more settled but they could just take us off

their

> surgery schedule now as we were headed out to Iowa in a few days to

> see Dr. Ponseti. He was amazed! So you can see why we call Dr.

> Ponseti and his method a true miracle for our daughter. Today her

> left foot is perfect, but her right foot will need a little more

work

> in the Fall as that was the more severe foot to begin with that

> developed a ridge from all the walking and pounding she did on her

> feet prior to treatment. I thank God everyday that I listened to

my

> gut as a mom and we did not stay in Utah. (Even though I had a few

> family members VERY mad at me for changing doctors.) Her feet are

> pain free and now she can wear shoes bought from a store!!! Please

> feel free to call me if you want to talk more. Just e-mail me

> privately and we can exchange numbers.

>

> Joyce

> Proud Mommy to , 01-03-02, bcf

>

>

>

>

> >

> > Thanks for the info on Dr's in Colorado. I may be going to Utah

> does

> > any one know of any good Dr's there who may have experiance with

> > children around a year when they are first starting treatment for

> bcf.

> >

>