I don't even know where to begin, just when I was beginning to get comfortable and think that we actually had clubfoot behind us, we get hit with another bump in the road. It started in late February/ early March but I tried to ignore it. I started to notice Riley's left foot turning in when she ran or took steps down the stairs. I tried to ignore it since last year's surgery was supposed to be it, no more issues. A couple of weeks ago, Marc and I were standing at the kitchen table and Riley was walking down the stairs. Her left foot was drastically turning in and her heel wasn't touching the ground, my heart sank and I literally got nauseous, it was the point where I knew I couldn't ignore it anymore. I turned to Marc and told him I was concerned about her foot again, that I've noticed it turning in and her heel not completely hitting the ground. He replied that he's noticed it too, especially at our 5K on St Patrick's Day and when was she supposed to go to Dr Hoffinger. Her appointment was still 2 months out so I decided to call and see when they could get us in. Turns out they had availability the Friday before Easter.
Yet again, I was right about her foot. Her tendons were tightening up, this time it was her heel cord and it's apparently not a common issue at this point in her treatment or after the tendon transfer (which the Achilles' was the one tendon that he didn't touch because we lengthened that when she was 3 1/2 months old!). Sigh. Lucky us! Our options: 1) Increase stretches, 2) Re-cast (not an option since she's in the middle of softball season) 3) Night-time brace that stretches 4) Another tenotomy (surgery she had at 3 1/2 months) followed by casting and brace. Grrrr!
We chose option 1, seemed the least interruptive to her day to day activities. We go back the end of May for a re-check and if her feet aren't looser than we figure out next steps, most likely a night-time brace. Riley's teacher offered to have her stretch before recess so Riley is doing stretches before she plays, there's a group of girls doing them with her and then they walk a lap before taking off to play. Plus we do stretches before bed.
In the meantime, on our way out Dr Hoffinger mentioned that if we wanted to do some physical therapy to learn more stretches that he'd write us a prescription for it. Hallelujah! I've been asking for PT since her first relapse so I jumped on it. They recommended the Center for Children's Sports Medicine at CHO Oakland on their Walnut Creek Campus. So I'm driving up to Walnut Creek twice a week for PT. I've got to say it is worth it, Riley loves her PT, she's very sweet to Riley PLUS it's mostly high school athletes there and they all love Riley because she's so little and gets right in there doing her exercises with them, no fear with that girl. Her evaluation showed tight hamstrings and calves and also weak hips so we're focusing on strengthening her hips as well as stretching out her calves. She gets massages to manually loosen her legs (can I get PT!?!) and then they do a bunch of stretches. At this point I will do anything to prevent another surgery.
I also ordered a dorsi-ramp from Amazon to get a better stretch out of her. Seriously, I'm hell bent on avoiding surgery.
As for me, I am SO over clubfeet, we are supposed to be done with it by now. Between her age and her surgery we are supposed to be past all of this and living a normal life. I'm beginning to think that my expectations of her feet are too high, that they are never going to be perfect, and the sooner that I accept this and move on, the better off that we will be. And as horrible as this sounds, I am off from work, finally getting a chance to catch up on life and instead of doing this, I am shuttling to a from PT and Speech Therapy (for Jacob). I know, I feel like a horrible mom for even thinking or saying it because I know Riley deserves all of the chances at having corrected feet that she can get but seriously, when are we going to get a break from all of this! I want to move on from clubfeet but I'm beginning to think that may not be in our cards at this point. Sigh. We'll keep tryng and keep moving forward to give her the best possible future.
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| First PT session |
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| Strengthening those hips |
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| When did she grow up? Off to PT one her own while I sit in the waiting room |
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| Post PT treat! |
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| Position still looks good |
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| Before PT |
