Cuts, Clubfeet Corrections, and the Foot Brace!

 

At Mason’s orthopedic appointment today he had his last set of casts removed.  If you’ve not read the blog before, Mason was born with bilateral clubfeet among other things.  After three sets of casts and a total of 5 weeks in casts he is ready to move on to the next phase of correction – a foot brace. 

Unfortunately Mason was cut today when the casts were removed.  It was very frustrating to have that happen on my little man.  The office filed an incident report and now we’ve got to be careful to watch for infection during the healing process.  You can see his cuts here:

We went from the orthopedics office to the prosthetics and orthotics office to be fitted for the brace.  For 23 hours a day Mason will be in this brace.  After 3 months he’ll start wearing the brace less, working down to 12-14 hours, most of which will be at night. He slept while being fitted.  The shoes snap into place on the bar.  That helps during diaper changes because we can just remove the bar and have a bit more maneuverability.  He’s the first baby I’ve ever had wearing shoes before they could walk.  We usually avoid shoes until much older! 

Here is a shot from the bottom.  Each shoe and each end of the bar are labeled so we put it together correctly each time.  The shoes are ‘straight-last’.  That means they don’t have a curve like regular shoes and can be used on either foot, but they’ve been set independently to attach to their end of the bar at the needed angle for each foot.

We’ve also got some stretching to do with Mason for his knees.  The tendons tightened up from being bent in casts for over a month and now his legs can’t straighten all the way.  With consistent stretching that will loosen up again.  It is so nice to be able to see baby legs again!