Kellie Smyers's Story
my son daughter has club feetNo one in our family has club foot. My daughter was too large for my torso and was very cramped in my womb. That is why we believe her club foot was developed rather than genetic. At 4 days old she saw her doctor for the first time, and we began casting. Her casting was going fine, but he realized that her achilles simply wouldn't stretch any further without surgery, so at 2 months old she had the operation. As she progressed in her treatments, she went to wearing the shoes and bar. She did NOT like this! We had a horrible time keeping the shoes on her for a long period of time, and we found a few tricks of the trade along the way. If you put a "grip sheet" under the foot, it will help to hold them in it longer. (I don't know what it's called, but it's bumpy and soft and my mom used it to hold cakes in place in their boxes)Also, carrying the child with one arm under their knee, facing away from your body as if sitting on your arm, seemed to ease her discomfort when being held. Lacing the shoes backwards, from the top and tying at the bottom, helped to keep her from untying them, but made it difficult to tighten and remove the shoes. She was tricky, and used the bar to her advantage. One time I watched my daughter slide down in her seat, push the bar under the edge of it, and push it up to pop the shoes off of her feet! She also found ways to wiggle in her shoes that would loosen them enough to remove them. For these circumstances, we found paying alot of attention to your child with reading and play, aka distraction, helped to keep her mind off the shoes and play rather than remove them. Now that my daughter is 11 months old, she is in the next stage of her treatments. Her right foot is almost completely healed, but her left foot requires more work. She is wearing a plastic cast-like thing, that has velcro and a pad over the top of the foot to keep it in place and comfortable. She has to wear shoes over it to avoid hurting herself and the shoes, and the sizing was not easy. We had to find infant sizes that come in wide, and her left size is a 5 while her right size is a 3. This was very costly and required more effort to locate a store which could help us find her shoes.
It took alot of effort to get the progress she is seeing today. We drove 45 minutes to another city every doctor's appointment. We drove even further to her orthotics doctor for her fitted shoes and bar, and plastic cast. We have endured many fussy nights and uncomfortable days where she just wasn't happy. We have even fought over "evaluators" telling me my daughter is disabled or handicapped and will never walk properly or learn to crawl. At this very minute, my daughter is crawling over to me, pulling herself up on the edge of my chair, and walking sideways across it to get around the room. She is not old enough to be "abled", let alone disabled. To anyone who discourages you or labels your child, don't allow it. Fight for your child to lead a normal life. Put the effort forth to help your child grow and overcome this obstacle. It is lengthy and tiring, and there are times I have cried and wanted to stop trying, or wished with all my might it was me, or even wished that this had never happened to her. But you will all continue on, and hopefully your child can recover speedily and fully. My daughter will begin physical therapy very soon to help her learn to take the pressure off of her ankles, and to prevent damage and pain to her knees and hips. This is available to us free of charge from our local MRDD center. We have government issued insurance that I applied for while I was pregnant. Don't let money scare you away from helping your child. I have even been reimbursed for the gas money spent to take her to her foot doctor. Government programs are available for those who actually need them, so don't hesitate to try them. I guess what I am trying to say overall is that by loving your child and believing in their abilities, and being determined to find and give her/him the best medical care available, you can help your child heal. I pray for everyone to have incredible progress in their own healing. Parents, children, friends, family, everyone. I pray we all find the strength and through this, the will to continue doing what needs to be done.
Good luck everyone!!!
Added on 24 Aug 2008