Chris' mom got us, or Tobin to be exact, and Exer-Saucer. He loves it! Once we got batteries in it and he figured out how to move and make the sound he was in heaven. It is a great distraction for us. Know we can sit down to dinner & eat, I can do things around the house. Wonderful!
This past Friday (the 19th) Tobin had outpatient surgery, minimal risk, on his ankle for his clubfoot. They went in and cut his Achilles tendon, correctly positioned his foot and then cast it. He will wear the first case for 4 weeks then we go cut it off (the cast not the foot) clean his foot & leg up then recast it for another 2 weeks.
He has been wearing special shoes with a bar between then to correct his club foot, but his heel just wasn’t lengthening like they thought it would. So good news, he hasn’t had to wear the shoes since the 9th, bad news will be in a cast for 6 weeks out of the summer & he loves swimming.
Tobin’s surgery went just fine. We got there and after they got him all checked in he fell asleep. The nurse came and took him back to surgery.
Dr. Deppe said they made a cut in his tendon (not all the way through like I thought, just enough to loosen it up) and it looked really good. He said it had already dropped into a better position. Chris asked about repeat surgery, Dr. Deppe said that 90% of children with club feet need the initial surgery, of that 90% only 3% has to have it again. After the casting is finished he will have two sets of shoes. One pair will be to wear during the day. This will keep his foot in the correct position, but allow for his development such as crawling and walking. The other pair will be like the ones he has now. The will have the bar between them, but will only have to wear them when he is sleeping
Tobin is in a great mood and doesn’t seem to be effected by it at all. I told Chris we are so lucky to have such a good natured baby. He could be the whiniest, crying baby ever through this whole foot thing. He just takes it as it comes and goes with it. No fuss, well hardly any fuss.
Here are a few recent pictures Glo-Worm:
Edit: Perri...we asked the doctor about the cast covers because we really wanted to take him swimming. Dr. Deppe said he would recommed not to for this first go around. He said with the little incision he didn't want to risk even a small amount of water getting in there and causing an infection. he did say with the second cast we could get one of those
2 comments:
Ruth, Andi had that same surgery - it worked wonders. You can buy an inflatable thingie (no idea what it's called) to go over his cast so he can go swimming. They have them at Gateway at the medical supply store. My friend, Vicki, bought one to use last year on her son's broken arm and he was able to swim every day.
PS. That bottom picture of Tobin is adorable :)
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