Jan's Story
i have club feetWhen I was a child, my mother was very concerned that my feet weren't straight, but seemed to be bent to make the shape of a "c" on one side and a mirror image on the other. But, my ankles were straight.
The pediatricians said that it wasn't problematic and would straighten out as I began to walk. Since I learned to walk on time and didn't toe walk, it wasn't recognized as a problem.
I have an uncle with severe clubbed feet and had miraculous surgery in the early 1950s in Boston, so my parents were aware that treatments are available. However, we lived in the deep south and in the late 60s and early 70s, there weren't a lot of innovative techniques going on here. Plus, superstition and history tended to make parents panic when told that a child had clubbed feet. To the parents, everyone they ever knew who had clubbed feet was a "cripple." They just gave up at that point.
My mother persisted with my doctor until we got a referral to a fabulous podiatrist who also taught part time at Emory Medical School. His name was Dr. Faddock and he was amazing. He never used the term clubbed feet with us (I guess to remove the stigma) and explained that my feet could be fixed. He said that surgeries work best on the most deformed feet, but that the risk of it not working was too high in a milder case, like mine. So, I wore external, hard, plastic braces that moved my feet into a better position when teamed with horrid looking, lace up orthopedic shoes. The shoes had to be oversized to accomodate the needed depth of the braces I wore and my mother always said that I could wear the shoes or the box, it wouldn't look too different! Anyway, after 7 years of braces, I was released as a success. But, the doctor didn't give us additional instructions to follow, so I moved into cuter shoes and did what I wanted, including making our school's drill team and doing half time shows.
I fell at 37 years old and broke the 4th metatarsal in the left foot. Bad break--rough edges. At 39 (still not realizing what was going on), I began training to walk in the 3-day walk for Breast Cancer with a friend. I had worked up to about 15 miles in a day. One day, I noticed my foot swelled after a walk and was a tad discolored. Went to doctor, they send me to orthopedist who found a stress fracture and informed me that since he noticed in the x-rays that I had corrected clubbed feet, that I can't do that much walking anyway. That was such a shock to me! I could have been wearing something all of these years to help protect my foot. It was the same bone that broke the second time. He ordered custom orthotics and orthopedic shoes. I have dutifully obeyed.
It's a year later. I just turned 41 and had to be x-rayed again today. Possible stress fracture in the same bone. I'm back in my air cast, waiting to see orthopedist on Tuesday. Don't know what can prevent this from being a permanent problem. Have experienced more pain in the left foot since the breaks. Who knows what the future will bring?
Jan
Added on 11 Oct 2008