Hi everyone! We haven't blogged in a while; I could blame it on cleaning, or planning a birthday party, or just laziness. At any rate, I wanted to let you know about a very cool search engine.
If you use www.goodsearch.com, they will donate $.01 for every search to your favorite charity. If you don't have a favorite charity, consider using mine - the Ponseti International Association. http://www.goodsearch.com/nonprofit/ponseti-international-association.aspx
Please consider making this your homepage.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Before and after
Before - photo from October, 2009
After casting - they look so much better. It really is amazing.
This is his "difficult" foot, but it still looks so much better than it did a few months ago!
It amazes me how much different this foot looks now
X-Man and his magic shoes - he really likes them
We're very pleased with the results from his casting. We're hoping everything is corrected and that he won't need to get a second tenotomy. We won't worry about it right now because that won't solve anything.
We will keep bracing and praying and we'll leave the rest to God.
After casting - they look so much better. It really is amazing.
This is his "difficult" foot, but it still looks so much better than it did a few months ago!
It amazes me how much different this foot looks now
X-Man and his magic shoes - he really likes them
We're very pleased with the results from his casting. We're hoping everything is corrected and that he won't need to get a second tenotomy. We won't worry about it right now because that won't solve anything.
We will keep bracing and praying and we'll leave the rest to God.
Cast free is the way to be!
So, X-Man is cast free! We are so excited. He's been in casts since the middle of October, so we're so happy to have made it to this point.
We were able to get an Orthopedic office to take his casts off. I was so proud of X-Man, he didn't cry at all when he had his casts taken off; even the cast tech was impressed! He really did a great job. At one point, he did start to panic a little bit and started counting super-fast. The tech stopped for a minute and said, "it's alright, I'll give you a minute". I was really impressed with the tech, he was really good with X-Man and wanted to learn more about why we went to Iowa and X-Man's treatment (I love when I get the chance to educate people about the Ponseti method!). He even helped me figure out how to get X-Man's "magic shoes" on.
I can't wait to post photos of his new shoes - unfortunately, we seem to have miss-placed our camera. I have a feeling that a certain little girl hid it somewhere... She's lucky she's cute.
When we got home from his doctor appointment, he was so excited to take a bath in the bathroom (we've been doing waterless baths and sponge baths in the living room). His skin is so dry and his legs and feet are really sensitive. I can tell that his knees are sensitive to extension too (probably from being bent for so long!). He tried to stand up, but his legs were unable to hold him up. I'm sure this is temporary, but I think it scared him. Luckily, he has figured out how to crawl with his brace.
His feet look so much better than they did in October; when our camera is found, we'll post comparison photos - you'll be amazed.
We were able to get an Orthopedic office to take his casts off. I was so proud of X-Man, he didn't cry at all when he had his casts taken off; even the cast tech was impressed! He really did a great job. At one point, he did start to panic a little bit and started counting super-fast. The tech stopped for a minute and said, "it's alright, I'll give you a minute". I was really impressed with the tech, he was really good with X-Man and wanted to learn more about why we went to Iowa and X-Man's treatment (I love when I get the chance to educate people about the Ponseti method!). He even helped me figure out how to get X-Man's "magic shoes" on.
I can't wait to post photos of his new shoes - unfortunately, we seem to have miss-placed our camera. I have a feeling that a certain little girl hid it somewhere... She's lucky she's cute.
When we got home from his doctor appointment, he was so excited to take a bath in the bathroom (we've been doing waterless baths and sponge baths in the living room). His skin is so dry and his legs and feet are really sensitive. I can tell that his knees are sensitive to extension too (probably from being bent for so long!). He tried to stand up, but his legs were unable to hold him up. I'm sure this is temporary, but I think it scared him. Luckily, he has figured out how to crawl with his brace.
His feet look so much better than they did in October; when our camera is found, we'll post comparison photos - you'll be amazed.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Three years ago
X-Man on his birthday - pre-casts
Pre-casts, he was one or two days old
X-Man and his first set of casts, three days old
So sitting here, I just realized that exactly three years ago, X-Man got his first set of casts. I remember him being so tough. He was only three days old and was already the love of my life. I remember trying so hard not to cry while they put his casts on, but I couldn't hold back tears. I remember putting his clothes back on, trying to be careful with his new casts. I remember feeling the warmth of his casts and panicking, thinking that they were burning his legs. I remember calling my mom from the car, I was sitting in the backseat, to X-Man's right, I remember exactly where on interstate 71 that we were. And I remember sobbing, telling her that my sweet tiny boy had huge heavy casts all the way up his legs. I remember just wanting my mom and dad. I never felt more like a child in that moment. But also in that moment, I realized that ready or not, I was an adult and was responsible with the most beautiful child I had ever seen.
I teared up a little bit thinking back to that moment. But I wouldn't change it for the world. It was one of the most difficult, yet most wonderful moments of my life. And the past three years have been (hands down) the best years of my life. My X-Man continues to bless me everyday, he really is a tough, amazing guy. I don't know that many other children would do as well as he has with everything.
We really do have an easy life compared to so many people; we feel incredibly blessed to have two smart, kind, healthy children. Clubfoot has become a normal thing to our X-Man. He's not embarrassed, and neither are we. When people come to our house, he loves to show them his "cool, blue casts" and his new "magic shoes". On Wednesday, X-Man gets his last set of casts removed here in town. We've been telling him each day how many days until his casts are removed. Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, we told him "three more days until you get your casts off!" and he said "no, we leave my casts on!". He actually likes his casts!
When his casts are removed, he'll start wearing the Mitchell/Ponseti boots and bar 18 hours a day. It seems daunting and I was a little worried about his mobility. Then, I remembered that's what I was worried about when we started casting. Luckily, his casts haven't held him back, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if his braces met the same fate.
The past three years have been filled with so much love and amazement. I'm looking forward to the next three years; but for now, we'll enjoy one day at a time.
Pre-casts, he was one or two days old
X-Man and his first set of casts, three days old
So sitting here, I just realized that exactly three years ago, X-Man got his first set of casts. I remember him being so tough. He was only three days old and was already the love of my life. I remember trying so hard not to cry while they put his casts on, but I couldn't hold back tears. I remember putting his clothes back on, trying to be careful with his new casts. I remember feeling the warmth of his casts and panicking, thinking that they were burning his legs. I remember calling my mom from the car, I was sitting in the backseat, to X-Man's right, I remember exactly where on interstate 71 that we were. And I remember sobbing, telling her that my sweet tiny boy had huge heavy casts all the way up his legs. I remember just wanting my mom and dad. I never felt more like a child in that moment. But also in that moment, I realized that ready or not, I was an adult and was responsible with the most beautiful child I had ever seen.
I teared up a little bit thinking back to that moment. But I wouldn't change it for the world. It was one of the most difficult, yet most wonderful moments of my life. And the past three years have been (hands down) the best years of my life. My X-Man continues to bless me everyday, he really is a tough, amazing guy. I don't know that many other children would do as well as he has with everything.
We really do have an easy life compared to so many people; we feel incredibly blessed to have two smart, kind, healthy children. Clubfoot has become a normal thing to our X-Man. He's not embarrassed, and neither are we. When people come to our house, he loves to show them his "cool, blue casts" and his new "magic shoes". On Wednesday, X-Man gets his last set of casts removed here in town. We've been telling him each day how many days until his casts are removed. Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, we told him "three more days until you get your casts off!" and he said "no, we leave my casts on!". He actually likes his casts!
When his casts are removed, he'll start wearing the Mitchell/Ponseti boots and bar 18 hours a day. It seems daunting and I was a little worried about his mobility. Then, I remembered that's what I was worried about when we started casting. Luckily, his casts haven't held him back, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if his braces met the same fate.
The past three years have been filled with so much love and amazement. I'm looking forward to the next three years; but for now, we'll enjoy one day at a time.
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