Meeting Dr. Showalter

It is Feb. 1, 2012 and today is our appointment with Dr. Showalter, an orthopedic surgeon. I am a bundle of nerves and can hardly eat. Darren is so optimistic and I don't know why I am expecting the worst. It is so not like me. We drop our daughter off at my grandma's so we can just focus on what the doctor has to say about Wyatt. While in the waiting area I see a little boy about 3 years old walking and playing with 2 casts on his feet like it is no big deal. How well he has adapted should calm me, but it doesn't. Everyone is so friendly at this office and I instantly feel like we are in good hands. Dr. S comes in and chats with us. I sit down with Wyatt while Dr. S examines his feet. He started to stretch Wyatt's right foot downward like if you were pointing your toes. His foot didn't budge. This of course sent Wyatt into a screaming fit. It was so hard to see my baby distraught simply because the doctor had barely stretched his foot. Why had this never occurred to me before!? Why had I never tried to stretch his feet?? I am a horrible mother.

Daddy and Wyatt playing while we wait.

Dr. Showalter immediately sent us for x-rays. Wyatt was such a good little trooper through his 4 x-rays. He stayed perfectly still and was declared the best patient of the day. He is such a little charmer already! We waited for Dr. S to come back with his diagnosis. I can tell from his face it isn't good. He starts out by describing two different deformities; one that goes away on its own and one that needs correction. He doesn't even need to say it...I can tell that Wyatt of going to need help to get his feet straight. This has to be one of the saddest days of my life, the day I found out that Wyatt has a Congenital Oblique Talus in his right foot and a Congenital Vertical Talus (CVT) in his left. Dr. S said we will proceed with physical therapy 2 times a week for the next 8 weeks (with daily stretching). If that doesn't correct it then we will move on to serial casting and then to surgery. I was like a deer in the headlights...Did he just say surgery!?

Of course like any normal person in this day and age I hop on my phone and start searching for any information I can find on CVT while Darren drives us back to pick up our daughter, I did not like what I saw. This is such a rare deformity that little is published in the subject. Basically what I could surmise is we have a good chance of correcting Wyatt's right foot (the less severe) with manipulation and casting. Everything I have read about CVT said surgery was inevitable and all the stretching and casting did was make it less invasive. We scheduled Wyatt's PT at an office close to our home. We gave them all of our info and were excited to start helping our little boy get better. Not 30 minutes later we get a call back saying none of them felt comfortable treating Wyatt and they referred us to a specialty office 25 minutes away. Wyatt is scheduled to have his first PT session on February 8th (big sis' 2nd birthday!)