Tendon Lengthening?

Look down at your feet, with your toes pointed directly in front of you, 12 O'clock. Now imagine your right toes pointing at 4:30 and your left toes pointing at 7:30. They say it doesn't hurt, but I don't believe them.

This week little Benjamin turned 1 month old, and he also received his 3rd set of casts. So far, his progress has been very good, so good in fact that the orthopedic surgeon decided we were far enough along today to perform the TAL procedure. One of the many complications that comes with clubfoot is that the heel of the foot is pulled upward and, if left alone, would cause him to walk around on his toes all his life. So, during the last phase of casts they cut the Achilles tendon to allow it to stretch to a normal length and the foot to lie flat. We were required to leave the room for this "minor" procedure, and from the looks of him afterward he didn't enjoy it very much. Now, he really does look like his feet are on backwards.

I guess I should be amazed that they can do such a procedure in such a short amount of time without general anesthesia or an operating room, but for some reason it all still seems a little caveman to me. Is that were we are with medical science these days? Cut it and hope it grows back? I'm sure I will feel differently months from now when his feet are straight and flat and he is trying to pull himself up onto his corrected little feet, but right now I'm just worn out, and, frankly, I'm kinda glad little Benjamin can't tell me how he feels about the whole situation.

Our First Night in Casts

I've broken a few bones in my life. A wrist on the playground in elementary school and a hand playing football in High School. I remember that wearing a cast for several weeks was a pretty annoying thing, but i never occurred to me how miserable little baby Ben would be with both of his legs in casts. After all, its not like he is walking yet, so he doesn't really use his legs very much other than to make it difficult to change his diaper. The doctor spent so much time at our first appointment telling us how awful it would be when he got the braces that he didn't bother to mention what the first couple of days in casts would be like.

Well, now we know. The casting process wore the poor guy out, so he slept fitfully off and on for the majority of the day. However, once night fell and he had regained some strength, he cried and screamed for about 6 hours straight. I think he eventually wore himself out again sometime around 4 in the morning, but by then his mom and I were completely frazzled and ready to throw in the towel. I didn't think that a 2 week old infant had yet developed the ability to produce tears, but today I saw a single tear come from his eye and it completely broke my heart. Poor little guy, daddy is sorry.

The Journey Begins

I know that there are parents out there who have kids born with much more severe, life altering, even life threatening ailments. Matter of fact, some days that thought is what keeps me going. But, this is the hand we are dealt, this is our journey... his journey.

On April 10, 2012 my son Benjamin was born, a healthy 8 lbs, 8 oz. kicking and screaming. His feet, however, are another story. He was born with bilateral club foot which is a fairly common birth defect which the doctors have spent the last 5 months assuring us is very easily correctable. Apparently, none of those doctors, including the perinatologist who diagnosed the club foot, have ever raised a child with club foot, because there is absolutely nothing easy about it.

Yesterday, little baby Ben's journey began at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, Texas. Fortunately, we live about 20 minutes from the foremost authority on Club Foot on the planet and thanks to the generosity of the Masons, the care that Ben receives at Scottish Rite is free of charge. After a short examination by the Orthopedic Surgeon to make sure that there are no other deformities in the bones or joints of the hip and leg, the doctor walks us through the treatment plan. Ben will be fitted with casts which extend from the tip of his toes to his groin for the next 4 to 6 weeks, getting a new cast every week. After that he is fitted with braces which basically resemble a pair of shoes connected at the bottom by a steel bar. This contraption must be worn 23 hours a day for the next 3 months. This is were the doctor stops to warn us just how miserable this process will be. He assured us that after Ben is fitted with the braces he will scream and cry non-stop for about 4 to 5 days. He spent so much time on this piece of information that my wife and began to get a little annoyed by it. Surely he is exaggerating in an effort to prepare us for the worst, right? I guess we will find out. After a few more warnings about sores, blisters and not giving in to the constant crying by taking the brace off, he continued with the plan. After wearing the braces for 3 months for 23 hours a day, and everything has straightened out to the doctor's liking, he then only wears the braces when he sleeps, for the next 2 years... I think about my 23 month old daughter at home, and how long and exhausting the past 23 months have been and my heart sinks.

After listening to all of this, I can't help but be reminded of a scene from the forth Star Trek movie. (The one where the Enterprise travels back in time to Earth to borrow whales to save future earth from an Alien probe... Stay with me) In one of the scenes, Kirk and McCoy, the ship's doctor, are walking through a present day hospital and McCoy spots a patient on a kidney dialysis machine. He stops, looks at the machine and says, "Dialysis? what is this, the Dark Ages?". He hands her a single pill and when we see her later, she is completely healed. I can't help but feel a little bit like Dr. McCoy right now. You see, 36 years ago when I was born, I had a positional deformity of my feet which required almost exactly the same treatment as my son. 36 years, one of the most common birth defects, and we still treat it exactly the same way? The Enterprise is never around when you need it.