A long day

For the first time ever, I had to drag Matthew out of bed. I woke him up and he said "no, Mommy", rolled over and went back to sleep. Poor kid. Both of us laid awake last night after little sleep the night before and a long day.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am and were called back immediately for forms, wt, ht, x-rays, photos, then into an exam room for more forms.

We were seen by a few nurses before Dr. Dobbs came in. I have to say, what everyone says about him is true. He is a very nice, understanding and knowledgable man.

He asked for Matthew's history then examined his foot. I am too tired to remember how the converstation went so below is what I remember, in no paticular order.

Yes, he is tight and his foot needs to be moved over. Casting and intensive p/t should do that. He may need the tenotomy again, but Dr. Dobbs will wait to see how tight he is after casting. Yes, Matthew is in a full leg cast, red this time. Photos to follow when I return home.

Yes, his extra ankles is the bottom of his talus bone protruding out. There is no new bone being laid down. No damage has been done. After this first cast, it should not be visible any more.

He feels that with this set of casting, possible tenotomy, intensive p/t and a new AFO his foot should hold in position for the long term. Yay!

He is pleased at how much motion his tendon that was transfered has. Yay!

He is willing to work with Matthew's current surgeon if I want. I explained that I may have burned a few bridges there and not sure if we can do that.

He is also willing to work with our p/t and our orthotist.

Even better then this news, Matthew made a friend. His new buddy is 7 and has a right clubfoot that seems to be regressing. They met in the x-ray department and by the time we were having a surgical tour, they were best buddies. They both got casts and are scheduled to be back on the same day for a cast change. I told his mom about haven house. She was very interested, maybe they will stay here together next time. I think this is the first time Matthew has seen another child the same age with the same problem. It was so wonderful to see them together.

So our next few weeks looks like this. This cast stays for 2 weeks. We come back here on Easter Sunday for a cast change Easter Monday. Then we stay for the next 3 weekly cast changes. Dr. Dobbs feels that 4 casts should do it, but that is an estimate. At that point, he may or may not need a tenotomy. If he does, it will mean three weeks in that cast before removal. Then, intensive p/t.

It is 3 pm, we are both tired and hungry. Matthew wants to go back up to the room. It is going to be early dinner then bed for tonight. We have a driver picking us up at 6:15 am for the airport. We have 58 min between flights tomorrow, if we make it we should be home by 1:30 tomorrow. Then I have to arrange everything for our next trip.

Will update with photos when I can.