Club Feet Update - 12/31/08

Week 7 Complete


Remarkably, we were able to keep little Houdinibelle from slipping out of that left cast during our Christmas travels (I credit the liberal use of feet pajamas). Although, the left cast did slide about 1 1/2 inches judging by how far her little toes disappeared into the plaster . . .


The wife was unable to go to the appointment today so it was a D2 day at the clinic (Dad / Daughter). The doctor was stuck in Tahoe as his outgoing flight was grounded (say a prayer . . . . just kidding) so his stand-in doctor who we have met before and have full faith and confidence in was attending today.


They took the old casts off and sent us for the long anticipated x-rays of Annie-Lu's feet.


When the images came back, I reviewed them with the Doc. Apparently, there are two bones in your ankle that interact with your tibia and fibia. In Annabelle's case, it looks like those two bones in both her ankles are not exactly where they need to be. In addition, I learned that the Docs have been trying to get Annie's toes to point forward instead of down (like a ballerina's) throughout the casting process; instead of her feet angling up at the ankle, like they should, they have been angling up about half-way through her foot.


It was a little hard for me to ascertain by looking at the xrays but if you look at your foot and bend your toes upwards, Annie's feet are actually bending up just before the first set of toe-joints.

This is nothing to be alarmed about - it just confirms the need for the heel-cord-lengthening (HCL) procedure mentioned earlier.

I put the docs on the spot by asking them to explain to me how this whole process looks, start to finish (I promised I would not hold them to definite time lines).

The doc and the assistant explained that there is a chance that Annabelle will have the heel-cord-lengthening procedure next week and then be in casts for another three weeks after that.

However. We need to consult with our regular (skiing in Tahoe) doc regarding the out-of-place bones in the ankle. If we all decide to do the surgery to correct those bones, we might as well do the HCL at the same time. In that case, Annie will be in casts for another 10 weeks after that procedure.

"What about after that?", I asked.


The staff explained that we would then move to a variety of restrictive braces for the next 4-5 years.

My heart sank a little - and the assistant noticed it . . .

By way of lessening the news, the assistant explained that most children with SB will have leg braces their entire lives so this wasn't that big a deal . . .

I appreciated the effort . . . . but still . . . that wasn't the answer I was looking for . . .

=next day=

When I started to write this post yesterday, I had all sorts of "if the world gives you lemons, make lemonade" sort of pronouncements at this point.

The truth is, I came unglued.

For some reason, I had in my mind that we would be out of casts by February and done with braces by summertime. Instead, we are looking at casts possibly up until April with braces indefinitely.


Maybe it was the accumulated stress of the trip to the Northwest, maybe it was because I have been thinking that the last two weeks of December last year was when things went awry in Annabelle's development, maybe I have just been playing the "what if" game a little too intently lately. Whatever the reason, yesterday's Dr. appointment was like a punch to the gut and I did not handle it well.

Of course, we count our blessings daily - and we generally take the "can-do" attitude about the whole thing - and the fear and pain lessens each day - but I guess some days are just black on black. I wasn't expecting it and it caught me off guard.

I suppose the lesson here is to be aware of the stress and strain you are under and be mindful of your limitations to handle it all.

Little Annie-Lu is a wonderful and amazing miracle - a testament to prayers flung heavenward. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't still hurt from time to time.

The scriptures tell us that even Jesus Christ wept . . .