These Boots Were Made For Walkin'

Luke's New Toys
One of the Pack Now

Luke visits Casey's High School

When asked initially if we were willing to take a child with clubfoot, we said "sure, bring it on." Then we got our referral, and we were told, actually, he doesn't have clubfoot he has congenitally turned in feet. So we thought "Bonus!!!"

Yesterday at the orthopedist, finally, we were told, Oh, your son has 2 clubfeet and we need to cast him immediately. Are you kidding? Malnourished, a "boy problem", hernia, now 2 clubfeet.

File this one under "can't my kid catch a break?"

Here's how the process will go for those who have never been a member of Club Foot. Both feet are casted up to his upper thighs. They will be changed once a week for six weeks each time gently moving the foot into the correct position. At the end of 6 weeks they will perform outpatient surgery to nick his Achilles Tendon (we hear the collective groans from the blogging public) and then cast him three more weeks in a row. Then, he will wear special shoes with a bar between them for 2 months. ( "Run Forrest, Run!") Then, he should have beautiful feet to run and play on. The doctor said she thinks it will be relatively easy to fix because his feet are "flexible".

So how is he handling this one so far? Like a trooper. He cried when they were bending out his feet, but as soon as he got in his car seat he discovered the joys of banging his casts against the plastic and the loud cracking noise that comes from kicking your parents in the kneecaps. Spectacular noises. In addition, he is doing constant leg lifts with these so he should have Abs of Steel by the time this is over with.

The other tremendous frustration is we can't monitor his weight anymore.

The good news, no, the great news, is that his diminutive stature does not appear to be the result of bone disease, rather the combination of malnourishment and probably small birth parents.

Luke also visited the early intervention program called "Babies Can't Wait" and will be receiving at least three visits a week from a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, and a speech (?) therapist! Nothing like making your tax dollars work for you! We are so excited to start working on his locomotion! The doc assures us that if he wants to, he can crawl in his casts!

We will end this post with the wonderful sound of Luke's belly laugh, just hearing it makes everything better!