Jamie had very tight heel cords which caused his feet to pronate outwards forcing him to walk on the insides of his ankles. This not only look uncomfortable it made it impossible for him to balance as he could not "grab" the floor with his toes.
The little guy's knees were pressed tightly together and he could not walk barefooted with or without assistance. Braces were a nightmare as his "beefy" stature and the severity of his pronating made them very uncomfortable. Red spots would have been welcome, we had to deal with blisters and skin breakdown if he walked for any distance at all.
We finally found help at the Shriner's Children's hospital in Tampa Florida. They prescribed a surgery that would basically cut slits into Jamie's heel cords then cast his feet into fiberglass casts and then move on to fixed braces and finally into hinged braces which he will most likely wear for life.
It was really a miracle. Jamie did very well in recovery. We asked that we be allowed to place him on his bipap machine as he came out of the anesthesia which helped alot in recovery and he is now out of his casts and looks amazing. His knees do not touch and he stands in a much more straight and normal way. Knees bent, feet forward.
The man that helped us with the braces was a genius. I can find his name if you email me but I don't recall... He worked at the Tampa Shriners as a "brace" dude and wore braces himself.
We have begun to loosen the top strap to allow his ankles to bend a bit and he can really cruise on the treadmill. Thank you Shriners!
He can go at around 1mph for almost 20 mins easily now or once around Wall Mart with our elbows out.
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2 comments:
I read your story about your son with CP and his heel cord surgery. I too have a daughter with CP. Her name is Lizzy and she is 12 years old. Now that she is closer to being full grown we are considering the surgery. She is a left hemipaligeic(CP only effects her leftside)and fairly high functioning. Although, the CP has caused her to walk high up on the toes of her left foot. I would love to know what to excpect from someone who has been through the surgery. I've heard that it's a very painful surgery and the recovery is a long one. How is your son today? Are the long term results worth the it? I appriciate any information you can give me and I hope that your son is doing well. I know how painful it can be to watch your child struggle with everyday things that so many take for granted. Thank you, Gina Bright
the surgery was tough but it helped as you can see in the video where he is walking!: http://child-bipap.blogspot.com/
He can not communicate how painful it was and the recovery did seem to take forever though... he was able to walk with assistance shortly after the surgery and never seemed terribly uncomfortable. We used the rubber boots for bathing/showering and he rode in his "stroller" allot more until the casts came off. I feel it was certainly worth it. You are home the next day and walking the next day, the scariest part was the surgery itself.
Best of luck to you.
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