Post ATTT Weight Bearing

[Guest guest]

My just turned two daughter is three weeks post ATTT on left along with repeat

tenotomy and just a tenotomy on the right on VERY atypical/complex bi cf

although the left is more atypical than the right.

Within 24 hours post ATTT she was standing on her feet - more on the right than

left but you get the drift. Three days post ATTT the ortho redid the cast on

her left leg increasing the angle to help discourage her from using it. Alas it

didn't phase her. She's moved from just standing to actually walking whenever

she can get away with it and constantly pulling up no matter where she is. We

have been very nervous about it and our PT finally told us to let the ortho know

our concerns. I wrote to him today and received the reply that he's not worried

about her standing and/or weight bearing and he'll see her next Friday for cast

removal/change on left.

What is really the issue with this? I know some of you have had to have this

done twice but others not. Did any of you have issues with weight bearing? If

so did it come out okay anyway? If you had to have it redone, why? Any other

words of wisdom you can pass on? We're at our wits end.

Chris

[about the past]

....the way I see it,

you can either run from it,

or learn from it.

Rafikki to Simba in Disney's The Lion King

[Guest guest]

Hi Chris--

I'll pass on to you what Jake's surgeon said...Jake was to be completely

non-weightbearing while he was in the cast. He could crawl, but no

walking/standing/running etc on the cast leg. Dr. Dietz told us that being

weight-bearing after surgery could cause the tendon to pull out from the bone.

I have heard from many parents, though, that their kids would run around on the

casts, and they had no problems. Their surgeries healed up just fine and they

didn't need the ATTT redone.

Jake did need to have a second ATTT. His tendon did pull out from the bone. No

one could give us a definitive answer as to why that happened; my husband

remembers Jake standing on his cast frequently. I remember him trying to stand

on it a couple of times but after I reminded him not to do it, he didn't anymore

that I recall (I work evening shift so Seth has the kids while I'm at work- it's

entirely possible that he was acting different when Seth was around....you know

how kids are). We don't know if that's what caused Jake's tendon to pull out,

but the second time around we were totally paranoid about him not standing on

the cast at all. Jake was 4 1/2 years old at the time of his second surgery so

he understood consequences better. He doesn't want to have more surgery so he

did very well this time.

I guess you just have to do your best. We had to relax some of our household

rules while Jake was in the cast- he watched more TV and played more video games

than usual. But it kept him off his feet. It would have been nice to have had

the surgery either earlier in the fall or in the spring so that we could have

gone outside more (Jake's surgery was in mid-October and the weather got bad

shortly afterwards)...Jake likes to ride in the wagon and going outside would

have been a nice change of pace. I do remember taking Jake to the zoo after his

first surgery (that was in April of 2004), and that was a nice outing for him.

He rode in the stroller and had a great time.

Good luck to you- hope this helps.

Kassia

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

and 11/22/02