My name is Jaclyn, mother to the most beautiful baby girl in the world, Victoria. She was born with her right foot as a club foot. When she was born, no one said anything to me about it until I unwrapped her and started crying hysterically because I was convinced that she was deformed and would never walk.
The nurse then came in and told me that she had club foot and that the pediatrician would see her and let me know what was going on. I had never even heard of a club foot before and the pediatrician said that it was correctable and she would just need a cast, and then referred us to a specialist.
We went to see the specialist when she was three days old. When we got there, we were expecting her to just get a cast and she would be all better. Little did we know. He proceeded to tell us about the whole process.
She would get a cast a week for six weeks, then would have a minor procedure to cut her heal cord, then be in a cast after that for three weeks, then would be in a brace full-time for three months then at bed time for two to three years. WOW!!!! I was not expecting that at all. It was a huge blow to me. I cried. We put her in her first cast that day, at three days old.
She did great with the casts. She had her heal cord lengthening procedure when they took off her sixth cast and that went well. We just got her three week cast off a few days ago and he said her foot is looking great. Her calf is smaller and her right foot still looks kind of weird, but I am hoping that that is only temporary.
We just put her in her Dennis Brown Brace four days ago and she absolutely hates it! She just finally got her right leg back and still can’t move the way she wants to. Every time she tries to move, she just screams bloody murder. My heart breaks every time. I was so happy to see her little leg again and I love watching her move her little feet around and she can’t. I don’t fault her at all for hating it, I am just waiting for her to get used to them. They said it should only take a few days, but for some reason I doubt that. When I have to take them off of her she gets so excited that she can move that she even giggles, it is so cute. I am doing my best with trying to let her get used to them, but it is so hard. I just want to make it all better for her. I know that she will never remember any of this, but I will. It is so hard on me to watch her go through this. I just cannot wait until she is in her DBB at bed time only, and I hope this process will give her as normal feet and movement as is possible.
Thank you for reading this, it helped to get it out.
Jaclyn
my daughter is 21 months and has club foot on the left but a normal right foot. recently she has had problems due to a ganglion cyst on her right foot, because of this, she has been unable to wear her Ponseti boots and bar. so now we are having to go through the manipulation and the casting until her consultant is happy with the position then she will have to have an operation to remove the cyst on the right foot and to release the tendon of the club foot again, then back into the plaster cast for another 3 weeks. my concerns are that her doctors will only tell me what her immediate treatment it and not whats going to happen in the future. it seems every time we go to see them we find out that there will be more procedures. they say that the Ponseti method does not require surgery but already my daughter is having her tendon released for the second time and next year shes got to have a tendon repositioned (which i was only told about because the doctor had not read the notes and thought that she was older than she is). how can they say there’s no surgery involved when obviously there is!! i also have concerns that her condition will affect her walk and posture but i don’t know how to avoid these issues and, as the lady above, my daughters feet are different sizes and being on a low income i wonder about help that’s available as i will always have to buy 2 pairs of shoes to be able to fit her properly. above all i would like to say that in spite of it all, i wouldn’t change my little girl, she has more courage and bravery than anyone i know and that this will make us stronger, not only as people but as a family and i treasure that.