My name is Lori and my son, Ian, was born with bilateral clubfeet. The ultrasound never picked it up, so when he was born on August 26, 2003, needless to say, we were very surprised. We already had a son, Alex, who is five. We did not want to know what we were having, but I was sure it would be a girl. Everything felt different with this pregnancy. When Ian was born, the first thing my husband said was “Honey, it’s another boy”. Then when we saw his feet, we said “Doctor what is wrong with his feet?” We were told it was clubfeet and it could be treated. My husband was very upset, his first thought was Ian would never be able to walk and play with Alex. We had no idea what clubfeet was. We were clueless.
Ian was casted at 2 weeks with a soft cast up to his thigh. He was miserable. I would take off his cast every Monday and the doctor would put it back on on Tuesdays. Ian gave the doctor such a hard time, he would not take his bottle and cried until we thought he would pass out. Finally after 5 castings, the doctor (who is such a wonderful doctor) decided to do the surgery of cutting his tendon. After surgery, he was recasted for 3 weeks straight. Then onto the shoes with the bar. He did well with the shoes, but once he started walking (15 months) he only had to wear the shoes at night. By this time, he had an eight inch bar. At that time he started to give me a hard time with the shoes. He cried through the night on and off until I would take the shoes off. We would get about 4-6 hours with the shoes on. He is almost 2 now and sees the doctor every 3 months. He may need one more tendon transfer surgery where they move the tendon from one side to the other. Other than that, he walks well and runs also.
So that is my story so far. Hope it helps. I would be glad to help others if there are any questions.
Lori
