Oia was brave for the removal, (which I found quite terrifying) and she sat as patiently as she could upon my lap. She does have some itchy skin irritation and a pretty significant blister on her left heel, along with a few others, but these are to be expected. She rediscovered her feet and legs on the ride home. A happy girl she was.
Dr. R examined her range and stretched her legs to assess her progress. He was very satisfied with the estimated 10+ degree gain in flexibility and range in both legs. The change is obvious. He was very quick to say that she will not need to be recasted again until she grows tighter in the future, which will inevitably happen. But for now, this is major progress and one significant step to prolonging (or potentially avoiding) any lengthening surgeries that could be in our future. We return for another appointment with Dr. R in 3 months.
Below is a video taken today, just after returning home from our appointment. To appreciate what you are seeing, Oia stood only on her right toes when she walked barefoot, without her AFO, before casted. Her calf muscles were pulled so tight that she barely even stood on the ball of her right foot. She walked on her left toes as well but not as drastically as she did on the right side. Casting has made a huge difference.
She must still wear her right AFO as often as she did before, which is pretty much all the time. Not only does the AFO keep her foot stretched to as close to 90 degrees as possible, it also keeps her bone alignment proper.
Would we do this again? In a heartbeat. And again, and again, and again. Two weeks of casting a couple times a year to get the results we saw today? You bet I would. Today I saw my little girl stand with flat feet for the first time in her entire life. It's been a pretty emotional day... because this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Wow. Great. I may have to ask Charlie's doctor about serial casting. We're fighting with insurance about Botox--maybe this would be an acceptable solution.
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
ReplyDeleteOh WOW! Look at those flat feet! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteWe'll be doing casting in September. I'm nervous but excited to see the results!
So glad that the results were so positive! She sure looks great! It sounds like you are staying ahead of it so it doesn't get too far gone, which is what happened with Faith. Yeah for NO CASTS!
ReplyDeleteSuper news Mo! Better keep your running shoes on - you're going to be chasing that flat-footed girl a lot!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's fantastic!! I love it when something works!
ReplyDeleteI'm SO happy for you!! Oia looks amazing! I know about all the emotional stuff...it's crazy what are kids do to us! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it worked out!!
Excellent news, Mo! Flat footed and everything. It's Christmas in July at your house. I am so happy for your little family today!
ReplyDeleteSo happy that the casting made such an improvement!
ReplyDeleteThose little legs are so cute!
Awesome! So happy it worked so well. Oia look great, love those flat feet!
ReplyDelete