When G was born, it was hard to imagine what his feet would look like. I knew he'd have clubfeet before the ultrasound. When I found out he did have clubfeet amidst the other issues, it was almost reassuring. It was something I was familiar with. Our oldest had been born with a clubfoot, and we'd been there, done that.
At birth, though, the sight of his feet and legs shocked me. He didn't have "just" clubfeet, and it was very apparent. I remember when my daughter was born, and I couldn't imagine how they could fix her foot to be straight. It happened (quite nicely, I might add), and I naively thought it would be just as "easy" for G. When he was lying in the NICU, and his little legs lay there, I had the same thoughts, the ones I wasn't expecting to have because, hey, I've already done this! How would they possible straighten and appear "normal"??
It did take a lot of casts (21), but his feet really do look good. He's had tenotomies, but he hasn't had to have major surgery on them. Perhaps it's in the future, but for now, they are straight and beautiful. It is such a small victory avoiding that one surgery. There was a time where I gave up and felt "doomed" to have the surgery. I remember thinking, "What's one more surgery?", and I can't believe I ever thought that, but I did.
4 comments:
His feet look absolutely amazing! I love the pics -- he's such a cute toddler and the baby picture is priceless. I am sorry you've had such a rough road, but so glad you've been able to avoid the major surgery. Did I mention he's too cute!!?? lol!
Thank you, Angela!!
My brother took that picture of him as a newborn, and I'll cherish it forever. The ones I took were decidedly blurry, and a large chunk was accidentally deleted. :(
Those straight feet made it alllllll worth it. :)
My son's heading into more tenotomies this summer--not for clubfeet, but for feet that keep twisting inward because of CP. I get what you're saying--it's still surgery, and it's still HARD in the immediate aftermath, but I'll take it over the big ugly surgeries we've managed to avoid so far, knock wood, etc. It's amazing what they can do at the "minor surgery" level...
Hi, Penny! I agree, I'd take a minor surgery over a major one any day. I remember when my daughter was little, and we were dreading this "huge" surgery for her clubfoot. It didn't transpire, and then along came Grant, and our perception of surgery changed.
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