Finally a plan!

Wyatt's PT Wednesday morning was pretty uneventful. Since Wyatt had two appointments that day we sent Isabella to daycare so we could focus better. This was Darren's first time going with us to PT. He was amazed how well behaved Wyatt was the whole time and how far Holly was able to stretch his feet. Holly said she wanted us to call her right after our appointment with Dr. S to let her know what his verdict was on Wyatt's feet. I promised her I would and off we went to meet with Dr. Showalter.

Wyatt loves the fish!

Wyatt once again was in love with the fish at their office. He couldn't quite understand why he couldn't grab them! He was squealing with delight at them and I am sure everyone in the hospital could hear him. Nothing wrong with his lungs! We went straight back to x-rays and I went in first with Dr. S. He wanted to make sure we got a really good shot of Wyatt's feet in plantar flexon (sp?). Wyatt was not too pleased about his feet being stretched yet again and made sure that the doctor knew it. After Dr. S left, Darren came back in to help with the remaining shots. Wyatt was as good as gold for those. Then we were sent back to our room to wait.

Dr. S returned pretty quickly with Wyatt's x-rays. He showed us that while Wyatt's right talus is still slightly oblique, it does go to a normal position when his foot is stretched. Such good news! Wyatt's left foot is definitely a complete vertical talus and showed little improvement sine his last x-rays. Dr. S said that it will not improve with time like his right foot. So our plan is to now move on to serial castings on both feet. Dr. S will be out of the country this month so we will continue with PT until Wyatt gets his first casts April 25th. We will be putting on a new cast every week for I don't know how long. Dr. S wants Wyatt's left foot to be in a good position to do surgery. I asked him about needing a bar for after surgery, but he said probably not but that braces might be a good possibility. He also mentioned that Wyatt might need multiple surgeries over his life to keep his foot it position. I could have gone without that piece of information, but good to know.

Wyatt and Daddy waiting for Dr. S

So there we have it. I have one more month to squeeze, kiss, and love on Wyatt's chunky thighs before they get encased in plaster. Then we have surgery, more casting, and possibly braces. We can do this...we can do this. Wyatt was a perfect gentleman the entire visit one again. He has this ability to make anyone who comes in contact with him instantly fall in love. The x-ray techs and receptionists were fighting over who got his attention and saying what a little angel he was. The lady we checked out with said she looks forward to seeing his bright smile every week. I am nervous about the while casting process. I worry that Wyatt will be really scared and I won't be able to calm him down. My boy is such a sweet angel and so happy. I would hate for this experience to forever change him.

6 months old!

I can't believe my baby boy is already half a year old! He is still a big boy weighing in at 19 pounds and 27.5 inches long. Poor boy had a rough day of doctors appointments. His 6 month checkup was at 11am and then we hat his PT at 1pm in the next town over. We didn't get a break. I left his first appointment and drove straight to his second. So, needless to say, Wyatt wasn't on his best behavior at PT. Holly broke out her secret weapon... the swing. It was a rectangular platform she hangs from the ceiling that both her and Wyatt sit on and swing while she does his manipulations. It was an instant hit! He loved to push his toys off and hear them fall. Holly said that she will actually have kiddos fall asleep on the swing while she is stretching them. I can understand why. The creaking noise it made as it swung back and forth was so calming that I was struggling to keep my eyes open. It ended up being another great session. She is always impressed how well Wyatt's feet are responding to the stretches and mentioned again how we might actually avoid surgery. Dare I get my hopes up?

With only one PT session left I am getting nervous again. Wednesday Wyatt has PT in the morning and we will be meeting again with Dr. Showalter in the afternoon. I wonder what our next step will be? I will be better prepared this time with a list of questions!

Emotional

I am having an emotional day today. We only have one week left until we go back and visit the specialist and I know he is going to say it is casting time. Wyatt is dying to be mobile. You can just see it is his face as he watches his big sister run around. His favorite thing to do right now is jump. How is he supposed to do that with casts!? He has just started to try and get up on all fours to crawl. How is he going to react when he can no longer do that? I just want to cry some days.

Toes!

Wyatt is sucking his toes! This is such a big deal for us because it means his feet are flexing enough to make it into his mouth. That makes me a very happy Mommy! Wyatt is now 4 weeks into his 6 week physical therapy session. He is making loads of improvement. He can now straighten both feet to a 90 degree angle and we can stretch them way beyond that. His very underdeveloped calf muscles are getting stronger too. His therapist, Holly, is impressed with his strength and how far he has come. She told be today that she still expects us to move on the the serial casting, but there is a slim chance that we might evade surgery. I am holding on to that little chance as hard as I can!

I think Wyatt loves Holly :) He loves showing off for her. Two weeks ago he sat up for the first time during his session and at today's he almost got up on all fours! I am so proud of my little man.

What a week!

My goodness I sure have been busy this week! Between Wyatt's appointments and Bella's 2nd birthday I feel stretched too thin. Wyatt had his first PT session last Wednesday. I was so nervous for him! I have to say that the whole process went way better than I could have imagined and for the first time I felt really optimistic that the stretching will actually work :) I am in love with Wyatt's physical therapist, Holly. She was so sweet listening and discussing all my concerns. She played a lot with Wyatt and really made him feel comfortable. He is such a little flirt and spent the whole time smiling and cooing at her. She went into a lot of detail explaining what stretches we were doing and why. Wyatt didn't mind them one bit. No cries, but a couple serious faces on some of the harder stretches. He is my tough little guy! She told me we were to do the stretching as often as we can and to hold them for as long aw he will tolerate, but for at least 30 seconds each. The best bet was to do them after each diaper change that way we fall into a routine. We first stretch his feet downward, then inward, and then downward and inward at the same time. We also play games with Wyatt by clapping the soles of his feet together. He loves that one! Her office is only going to be able to get me in once a week instead of the 2 times recommended by Dr. S, but Holly said not to worry. As long as we are doing the stretches consistently at home he will be fine being monitored only once a week. She has definitely made this whole process a lot easier on us!

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!)

Playing Catch-up

Let me give you a little history to get you up to date. Our handsome boy was born September 12, 2011. He was 8 lbs 6 oz and I remember the doctor and nurse arguing over whether he was 22.5" or 23". Either way he was a long, big boy.  And still is! Wyatt weights in at a whopping 18 lbs and 3 oz at 4.5 months old. I noticed his curved feet right away, but all newborn feet look a little odd to me and I didn't really think much of it. When Wyatt was 3 days old we took him in for a routine check-up. Our regular pediatrician was busy and we saw a different doctor in the office (little did we know what a huge blessing this would be!) Dr. Babbel had made an offhand comment on how he was a little concerned about how curved Wyatt's feet were. He folded Wyatt's legs up to show us the unusual position he had taken up in the womb. He said that his feet should start to straighten out now that he isn't cramped in a small space anymore. If they weren't better by his 2 month routine check-up he would refer us to a specialist just to double check. We were relieved to hear this and made a note to pay close attention to Wyatt's feet.

A couple of months passed and Wyatt's feet were improving. They didn't curve out as much but still were always angled up. We saw our regular pediatrician for Wyatt's 2 month check-up. We brought up Dr. Babbel's concerns over Wyatt's feet and asked his opinion. He quickly looked them over and concluded that they looked perfectly fine. Phew! We all breathed a huge sigh of relief. Our little boy is perfect! Time passes again and I just can't get the feeling out of my mind that something is wrong with Wyatt's feet. They are so unusually fat and they still curve up and out. Something isn't right. When it came time for Wyatt's 4 month check-up I made sure we scheduled it with Dr. Babbel. I bring up Wyatt's feet again and he agrees with me 100%...something just isn't right. He is convinced that they don't look too bad and will hopefully just need close monitoring from an orthopedic specialist and maybe some stretching. Okay, I can handle that.