Lee's Story
i have club feetHi my name is Lee, I'm 26 years old and i was born with severe bilateral talipes.From birth i was treated in the usual manner of, corrective manipulation/casting and footwear once old enough.
I had my first operation at the age of 4 years old, on my right foot, this proving to be to be the worst one of the two. At first i could play some football, and other sports, however as i went on to high school this decreased.
At the age of 14 i had my second operation on my right foot. A year or so after this, the doctor who had treated me from birth announced his retirement, and on my final consultation told me i was lucky to be able to walk at all, and not to be surprised if i encountered problems in later life.
With this in mind i tried to set about life as normally as possible, however this has now proved to be impossible with non-stop pain. I have now been seeing a new consultant for the past year and i am due an operation at the end of jan.
Fingers crossed! I'll let you know if it's a success.
[b]UPDATE 26 June 2006[/b]
Well i've eventually got round to doing the follow up story after my latest operation.
Unfortunately it wasn't quite the success i hoped for. The procedere was a bilateral steindler release and a right ankle joint scrape (to remove the worst of the arthritis).
I'm normally a very quick healer, but from the word go i aquired an infection in my right foot which undoubtedly slowed things down initially, but even so it still took several months before i could walk much without crutches (they actually made me walk a couple of steps before i could leave hospital, that really hurt!) Well the lastest thing that there trying now is orthtics in my shoes, and i'm pleased to say that there actually helping me walk a little more normally, so at least there is some forward progress again!
I must admit that i never thought i would be struggling so much with my feet at this stage of my life. On my last visit to the hospital i came across a young girl with no feet at all unyet she still came across as confident and happy.
Thats when you realise there is always somebody worse of than you.
Best of luck to everyone and most of all keep trying!
Update
UPDATE 26 June 2006Added on 27 May 2006