Gopal's Story
my son daughter has club feetMy son, Heramb was born on 16th December 2006. My wife and I got to know that he would have clubfeet, during one of the regular pergnancy scans. We were told that it's a fully correctible condition and that my wife need not terminate her pregnancy
Heramb's feet were very small when he was born. It was all the more glaring because he was a big baby at birth. His feet were turned fully inward and resembled leaves. It was as if the feet had no bones. I hid my tears on seeing them, but comforted myself thinking they will be fully alright
The orthopaedic doctor at the city where Heramb was born started the Ponseti technique of treatment from Heramb's 3rd day. He changed casts once every week for 5 weeks at the end of which he performed a minor surgery. Heramb's feet were in casts for 3 weeks after that. I was out of country for that entire period, so I never got a chance to check how his feet were doing. When I returned to my country Heramb was 3 months old and was wearing FAB 23 hours a day. I was glad on seeing that he didnt have the casts on, but what caught my eye was that his feet were thick now, but still quite small. Initially I thought he took after me in that regard (I am 171 cms tall, yet my shoe size is 7), but then my suspicions that something was amiss started getting stronger when I observed that his feet weren't very flexible and that they didnt have the curvature that normal feet have.
My wife and Heramb came down to the city that I live in, when he was 4 months old. Within 10 days of them arriving here, I took them to another orthopaedician (Lets call him Dr V) in my city. Dr. V has 5 decades' experience and runs a well known hospital here. The moment Dr. V saw Heramb's feet he remarked that his feet were not fully corrected. He had an X Ray taken and explained that the bones in his feet were not properly aligned (he compared that with a standard picture of human foot). This corroborated what I had been thinking all the while, that the previous orthopaedician didnt do a good job. I was furious, angry and frustrated. Frustarted because the laws of this country give me no option to take my case to a forum.
Dr V started applying fresh casts to Heramb. This continued for 6 weeks. Heramb's feet seem to be getting normal now. I see that his feet are curved and also that his toes have grown bigger and are well formed.
Heramb is 6 months old now and Dr V is performing a surgery on his right foot now (In fact at the time of me writing this). I am however, tensed up because the surgery he is performing is a full fledged one and is unlike what Dr Ponseti recommends (that's what it seems, going by the procedure at the hospital). I have no option but to just wait and see how it goes, as I have no knowledge of orthopaedics and I do not know any doctor personally, with whom I can check.
His left foot will have a surgery done 3 weeks hence. I am quite tensed up and am waiting for a call from my wife regarding how it's going. This (me writing this story) is probably a good outlet for my bottled up emotions. I am praying to God that everything goes well and my son gets to lead an active and normal life.
Added on 20 Jun 2006
Comments
All times are in GMT -04:00Comment added by Gopal on the Wed 12 July 2006 a 07:16am
Today Heramb's sutures have been taken off and his feet have been set in fresh set of casts. I am told this will continue for 3 more weeks after which he will be free of casts.