The second week came and went and it was time to remove the casts. This time it was Craig and I working together. We used the baby bathtub again with the water and vinegar mixture. I held Samuel and Craig worked on the casts. From start to finish it took about one hour. In our non expert opinion his feet looked great. When his first foot and leg were out of the cast it took several minutes before he would start moving them around. He is sensitive to touch because he is used to his whole leg and foot being covered up. His skin was less dry this time around.
We got to the appointment and met with Tony the PT. He could not believe how good Sammy's feet were looking and how well they were moving. The right foot went from a 9 to a 3 and the left foot went from a 9 to a 6. Instead of doing stretching with Tony we just worked on the sensitivity issue. Craig and I would hold a foot with just a tiny bit of pressure and we would also massage the foot to get Sammy used to touch.
Dr. Miller came in and looked at Sammy's feet. She looked up at us and said, "How many casts have we done?!" She could not believe how well his feet are correcting. The right foot is so close to being fully corrected AND it might not need the tenotomy. This is a procedure that is the last step to get the foot into the correct position. Most clubfoot babies need to have their Achilles tendon lengthened for their foot to be fully corrected. The foot is pointing down and the lengthening allows the foot to pull up to the normal position. They won't make any decision on the tenotomy until we have both feet corrected. If they are on the fence at all we will go ahead with the procedure since there is a history of clubfoot on both sides or our family. The last thing our medical team wants to have happen is get a year down the road and realize he needed the tenotomy and then have to do it at that point. It's much easier on an infant than a toddler.
Craig gave Sammy a bottle while Dr. Miller applied cast number three. It went pretty quickly although Sammy did get upset towards the end. After the casts went on we cleaned up our mess (plaster casts are messy!) and hit the road. We actually went to Costco and did some shopping because Brady was at daycare and Craig took vacation last week. We were so happy that the process is going so well. It was a great day!
Dr. Miller is out of the office next week so another member of the team will do our next cast. She was called into our room to see Sammy's feet and talk to Dr. Miller. When she came in the room Dr. Miller told her that Sammy really did have clubfoot. He is just correcting at an accelerated rate. So that is where we are for now. Heading in the right direction!
Thank you to everyone who is praying for Sammy during this process. We appreciate your support and prayers and truly believe that God is healing Samuel Owen.
