Maddy Is Doing GREAT!!!

Well, sorry the pic is sideways, I can't figure out how to turn it. Oh well.

Maddy is doing awesome in therapy. Her walk is getting better and better. We are working to strength her left left.

At her othro check up, her x-rays looked good.

Sorry this is so short, but the kids are hungry!

Maddy Is WALKING!!!

Sorry, no picture right now.

But, yes, my girl is finally walking. She started on February 12, 2008. I was rearranging her room and she just took off. As I was moving her bed she started walking in circles to my amazement. She was amazing steady on her feet.

Maddy has started physical therap, which is helping her tremendously.

That is the quick update. I will update again after the ortho appointment on the 12th.

Maddy Personality Is Coming Out More Everyday!

Today, I asked Maddy is she was poo poo. She told me no, and as I began to move toward her, she said repeatedly mine. She is too cute.

Now on to updates, since Maddy was put in the spica cast she has not been able to wear her Ponsetti shoes at night. Her feet, especially the right one, has been affected by that. We now have new Ponsetti shoes, yeah! She still has to wear a night cast on her legs, so the shoe place had to modify a bar for her shoes. I'll take a picture when I get a chance.

Maddy was evaluated for physical therapy. The ortho doc says she needs PT, then the PT place has to evaluate her to make sure she needs PT, whatever. So that starts this week.

My cousin also told me about ECI, they come to your house to do therapy with children under 3 years for a monthly fee. It is through the government and available to children that are behind developmentally. The payment works on a sliding scale. I have heard good things about it, the PT place recommended it also.

So this is our schedule:
Monday-normally consumed by playing and homework for me
Tuesday-Classes from 8am-3:30, that doesn't include the 1.5 hours drive both ways
Wednesday-PT and HW for me
Thursday-Class again
Friday-Hubby works overtime
And somewhere in there I have to cook, clean house, spend time with family, and this next week I will be getting temp custody of 2 more kids (18 months and 3 months).

Oh, and Maddy is 2 now. Yeah for Maddy!

Maddy is cruising still, but she has taken a couple of steps all by herself. I cannot wait until she is walking on her own again.

Well, I will let you know how PT is doing in a week or two.

Ortho Appointment Today

We went to Maddy's ortho appointment this morning. Maddy had her xray, and then we go to a room to wait for the doctor. And let me say Maddy remembered the last visit because she started screaming and wanted to leave immeddiately. The doctor comes in, Maddy is still SCREAMING, we look at the x-ray. He says that he cannot see the left side clearly and wants another z-ray, but the right side looks funny to him now. I told him that I could not handle any more bad news. So off to x-ray we go AGAIN. This time the doctor comes in to hold Maddy's hips and legs the way he wants them. It takes 4 people to hold Maddy down for the x-rays this time. So then back to the room, to wait for the doctor again. When he comes in the room this time Maddy is hysterical. Kevin (hubby) has to take her out so that one of us can hear what the doctor has to say. The left side is good,it is in the correct position, blood supply good, that side is where it is supposed to be. Now the right side, he says that there is dysplasia on that side as well, although it is very mild. So I ask what our next step is. We are just going to watch both sides, the right side might correct itself. He said that when the kids reach age 4 the ball of the femur stops affecting the growth of the hip. The dysplasia, as simple definition as possible, is the hip socket is not cupping the ball of the femur, the hip is kinda straight instead of curving. So once she is 4 if the hip socket is not cupping the ball of the femur, surgery will be needed. It is a pretty big surgery, and she would be back in a spica cast. I was afraid to ask for how long.

Our next issue was that Maddy is not walking yet, and it looks to us that one of her legs (left) is longer than the other, a lot longer, like about 1.5 inches. The doctor lined her up, and her legs are the same length, thankfully. She is holding her pelvis crooked making it look like her legs are different lengths.

Next, her feet. The right foot is really curving inward. He felt both of her feet, and they are both still really flexible so he is not too worried. We are going to see if we can find bar for her Ponsetti shoes that is wide enough that she can wear it with her night cast (the purple cast, a couple of posts down).

He also prescribed physical therapy twice a week for her which will help her range of movement, and correct the way she is holding her pelvis. They are also going to work with keeping her feet stretched properly.

So we had a busy day. At the doctor's office from 10 to 1, and then after we made it back home. I was on the phone setting up appointments and such. Between taking 17 hours of college classes and PT twice a week, we are going to be a very busy family. I will try to update as much as possible, but please understand if it get a liitle long between posts. Although if you have any specific questions please ask and I will answer them the best I can and as quickly as I can. Questions from anon. posters will not be answered.

Out Of Spica Cast 2.5 Weeks

The swelling in Maddy's leg is gone, and we have a little progress to report. She has started moving her left leg on her own. When she crawls, she still scoots, but occasionally uses the left leg as well. She can pull up to a standing position, and occasionally puts some weight on the left leg. She can climb on the couch totally by herself. We aren't to the cruising stage yet, but slowly I am sure we will get there.

Maddy has a ortho appt. on the 23rd, we will get an x-ray done to make sure her leg is still in the hip socket. My biggest fear is that it will be out of socket, and then she will need an open reduction which is a huge surgery.

I am definitely going to push for physical therapy (PT), at this next appt. I have learned about Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). They will come to our house and do PT with Maddy. So if the doctor won't prescribe PT I am going to go the ECI route. ECI might be easier anyway beacause I start school next week, and I am taking 17 hours.

Senthil-I am here if you have any questions. I started this blog to help others. Everytime, Maddy has had an issue I have looked to others that have gone through the same situations for help and ideas, and with questions.

Maddy's First Week Out of the Spica Cast

Well, it has been one week since the spica cast was removed. Maddy is still not using her left leg. She has figured out how to crawl. The way she does it reminds me of a frog because her left leg is bent, and she uses the right to hop/scoot around. Maddy's left leg is also still swollen a little. So I am going to call the doctor tomorrow with my concerns. It is my opinion that she needs physical therapy. The doctor had originally said that they typically do not prescribe PT for children because they play so hard that they get PT through play. Maddy is playing, but absolutely not using that left leg.

Christmas was great this year. Everyone received what they wanted from Santa.

I will update when I have more news. Hopefully, tomorrow.

Nightime Cast

This is the cast that Maddy wears now at night. I forgot to take the picture when she went to bed so I had to take it after she fell asleep.

Picture of Maddy's Hip Spica Cast

Maddy was a lifeguard for the Fall Fest at our church.

The Hip Spica Cast Was Taken Off Yesterday

Kevin and I took Maddy for a CT Scan and a doctor visit yesterday. I was planning to speak to Dr. Rosenfeld about possibly taking the cast off early. It would be about 20 days early. Maddy appetite was lessening and she was beginning to spit up because she was running out of room in the cast. Her right foot has also stiffened up considerably.

Dr. Rosenfeld came in the room and told us that he had already looked at the CT Scan and it looked great. Then he said the magic words "Let's take the cast off"! So I received my Christmas wish yesterday. I wanted Maddy out of the cast before Christmas (of course, if it was safe to do so). I saw the CT Scan and there was a huge difference from the last scan, it looked so good.

Taking the cast off was very traumatic for all of us. Because her femur went into the hip socket so easily in the surgery, and Dr. Rosenfeld wanted it to stay in socket, the cast was very tight around the hip area and very thick to protect it from bumps. So it took alot to get it off. Once the cast was off, we were able to clean Maddy up with wipes,which did not do a very good job. Basically just her left leg had a lot of dead skin. That was kinda gross to look at.

It was so nice to be able to hold Maddy without that heavy cast on. They did make her another cast to wear at night. This cast is only on her legs. I will take a picture of her in it tonight and post it hopefully tomorrow.

Maddy is very sore in the left hip area. That area of her body has not moved for about 70 days. Right now she is not able to crawl at all. I keep moving her from sitting to laying down, jst trying to slowly loosen her up. But everytime we move her it hurts her. I really hope it gets better soon.

That's all for now.

New Development Concerning Maddy

First, I know that I said that this blog was to be discontinued, but my goal in first creating this blog was to document Maddy's club feet condition. I feel that one day Maddy would like to look at this and see what see went through. That said the blog will go on.

Maddy started walking well in June this year. About two months later, her dad and I noticed that she was walking a little differently. It was like she had a little limp, first we dismissed it to she must have bumped into something. Then when it did not go away, on Maddy's 18th month visit to her pediatrician, we brought it up. She first asked what ortho had said, I told her that we see ortho next month. It kinda seemed like one of Maddy's legs was a little shorter than the other to me, and I told the doctor this. So she laid Maddy on the exam table, took off her diaper, held her legs together, and looked at her baby creases. At that time all of Maddy's creases were lined up indicating that her legs were the same length. The doctor said to definitely bring it up with ortho because she did not see anything that could be causing a limp, and if there was a problem that is who we would see anyways. So we went for our regular ortho visit in October. Both Kevin (Maddy's Dad) and I went because we thought that there could be something wrong. I guess I was seriously in denial because I keep telling myself that it was a tight tendon or just the way Maddy walked. Well, ortho, saw Maddy walk, felt her hips, and measeured her legs. Then one leg was 1 centimeter longer. Autumn (Maddy's Ortho PA) wanted an x-ray. We go do the x-ray and come back. Autumn pulls it up on the computer, and says there is a problem. I almost immediately start crying. Maddy has hip dysplasia. This basically means that her leg is out of the hip socket on her left side. We are asking what needs to be done to fix it. Autumn calls the doctor, and they believe that Maddy is too old to use a harness to put the femur back in and hold it there. The doctor is in surgery, so we wait to talk to him. We find out that surgery is the best option. The surgery as we are told can be conducted in steps, starting with the least invasive to progressly more invasive.

Maddy had surgery October 12th at Texas Children's Hospital. The surgery went very well, she had a closed reduction, which was the least invasive. The doctor (Dr. Rosenfeld) was able to manually push the femur back into the socket. When this was done one of Maddy's tendons was very tight, so that was cut with a very small stab incision. Maddy is now in a hip spica cast, she has to be in it for 90 days.

Today, she has 53 more days to go in the cast. We go back to ortho to see Dr. Rosenfeld every 2 weeks. We go this Wednesday. At one visit we will get an x-ray and the next visit a CT Scan. The last visit Maddy had a CT scan. The bone looked healthy and in the right place. One of the risks to pushing the top of the bone into the socket death of bone cells in that area. Dr. Rosenfeld is being extra cautious with Maddy because her bone went in the socket very easy so he worried that it will come out easily. The bone can come out of the socket while she is in the cast. If we find that it has come out, the cast will come off and surgery for an open reduction will be scheduled. That is a major surgery, and we really do not want that procedure.

Well, that is Maddy's news. I left our experiences out because I wanted to get to the point, but I will add on in another post-Maddy's reaction, dealing with the cast, how she is doing now, and ways we have adjusted to this.

Maddy's Mom Update
I graduated this my Associate's Degree with an emphasis in Criminal Justice from Tomball College. I am now going to school at Sam Houston State University. The drive is not fun with the rising gas prices (the university is 70 miles from my house).

Maddy's Dad Update
Still working hard to support his family.

Maddy's Brother Update
Doing excellent in school, 3rd grade. Ryan and his dad just built a wood covered wagon for a school project.

Anonymous Poster

Maddy has an anonymous poster who is making me a little nervous.

Unless this poster identifies who they are to me, unfortunately this blog will be discontinued.

I understand curiousity, but not when it concerns my children.

Maddy's Mom Is A VERY BUSY PERSON!!!!!

There have been some comments about this blog. I apologize if time is wasted for you, checking over and over to see no new updates. To give you some perspective here is my April schedule:
1-My birthday (no joke)
2-College Classes and part-time job
3-2 pm meeting and 6 pm mtg for the college honor society (Phi Theta Kappa) that I am president of
4-Class and Work
5-Work (8 hours)
6-Ryan-No School
9-Class and Budget Hearing for Phi Theta Kappa
10-Flew to Nashville, TN for Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society Convention
15-Arrived home late evening
16-Class and work
17-Evening event for Phi Theta Kappa
18-Class and Work
19-Work and Volunteering at a home for children with troubled families (Boys and Girls Country)
21-Volunteering to clean up area on campus for a Biology outdoor classroom
23-Class and Work
24-Study Skills Presentation for Phi Theta Kappa, 2 pm Meeting, 6 pm Phi Theta Kappa Officer Election Meeting
25-Class and Work
26-Work and Student Excellence Awards (I will be receiving an award)
28-Volunteering for Beach Clean Up
30-Class and Work

In addition to the above activities, I spend time with my family, study for my classes, clean and cook for my family, I try to spend time with my friends, and somewhere in there I like to sleep a little. Please give me a little slack.

Please note that I will not be updating until after Finals (May 7-11) unless Maddy walks and I catch a picture of her doing it.


Maddy is doing great, but still not walking. And that is the Maddy update.

General Update

Maddy had her ortho appointment Monda, feet looked good. Our last visit I was worried about how she was holding her feet, but since that visit Maddy has been standing more. I had talked about a possible surgery moving a tendon from one side of the foot to the other side, but no need now. The Ponseti shoes are now available in our area. We do not have a problem with our current shoes, but it would be neat to use the shoes created by the doctor whose technique for correcting club feet is so widely used. Our PA wrote us a prescription for the Ponseti shoes so hopefully our insurance will cover it, and the place we get our shoes can get them. Our appointment for shoes is tomorrow, so we will see.

It has been and will been a busy week.

Monday, Ortho visit. Today, 1 year well (sick) baby check up. Wednesday, Shoes appointment. Thursday, pre-op visit for tubes and adnoids.

At the 1 year check up, Maddy weighs 19.5 pounds and is 28 inches long. If I remember all the percentages correctly they are: Head 10% (which is what she has always been), weight 25% (went up from 15%), and height stayed the same at 15%. Developmentally Maddy is on target, only thing was standing not holding on to anything, but the window for this is 12-15 or 18 months (I have too many numbers in my head). Maddy received 2 immunizations and had a finger poke. She was not happy after this visit. Her current ear infection is not getting better, so switched antibiotics to one that has worked in the past.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I would have put up a picture, but Maddy has a runny nose and that's not so pretty.

Today Is Maddy's Birthday!!!

The above picture is the during the party.

And this is Maddy before her party.

What a difference!

More info to come after next week's doctor appointments.

Another Double Ear Infection

Maddy had her appointment with the ENT doctor. We found out that she has another double ear infection. If you are counting, that is 7 ear infections in 4 months. She is definitely getting tubes put in those ears. We have scheduled the surgery for two weeks from now. She could possibly be getting her adnoids taken off. The doctor will look while she is asleep to see if they are part of the problem. I post more when I have more.

It's Been Soooo Loooong Since I Posted

Everyone is doing well. Madelyn is developmentally on target. Her one year doctor visits (pediatrician and orthopaedic)are the first week of Febuary. We have been dealing with ear infections lately. Maddy has had six ear infections in four months. We just had a rececheck of her ears today which was clear after double ear infections. We have an appointment with an ENT next week. Maddy is cruising around like crazy, but not balancing on her own. I asked our pediatrician today, she said that the window for walking is 10 months to 15 months. Ryan walked at 11 months, so I was hoping that Maddy would walk before her 1st birthday. It doesn't look like it is going to happen.

Maddy just woke from her nap, so must run. I will try to do better in updating. I will definitely update after her appointments.

Things Have Been So Busy Lately

Maddy's Feet

A lot has happened in our family since I lasted posted.

Maddy's Update:
Two bottom teeth have come in. That was lots of fun, haha. Maddy is now crawling and pulling herself up onto her knees. Her personality is coming out more and more. Maddy's feet look to me like they are going to need more help. I pointed out my concerns at the last ortho visit, but I think it is getting worse. Maddy has another ortho visit at the beginning of November.

Ryan, Maddy's Brother Update:
Ryan has started 2nd grade. He loves school and his teacher. This is her first year to teach. He is going to break her in good, I am sure. At the beginning of the school year, the kids were tested in reading. Ryan is reading at a 3.6 which means 6 months of 3rd grade. Nationally, he is in the 95 percentile for his grade level. Needless to say, I am so proud of him.

Kevin, Maddy's Daddy Update:
Kevin is enjoying "Maddy Time" while I am at school. He has several projects going around the house. He is putting our truck back together, it was totaled. We bought it back from the insurance company, and Kevin is fixing it himself. He has multiple talents. Kevin is also working on our boat trailer, it needs some minor repair. Everychance he gets , he heads to the Gulf to do some fishing. The last trip, I think only two fish were caught (a Spanish mackrel and a whiting).

Mandy, Maddy's Mom Update (that's me):
Schooolhas started back up for me also. This semester I am taking 11 hours. The classes are Chemistry, Spanish, and Crime in America. I am at the college on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Kevin watches Maddy while I am at school. Kevin works nights so it is starting to cut into his sleep time more now that Maddy is awake more. I am also getting involved in Phi Theta Kappa again. I was asked to be an officer, but I am not ready to commit to that again. Phi Theta Kappa is an honor society which is by invitation only to join. Members must have at least 12 credit hours and a GPA of 3.5 or higher. After this semester, I need only 3 more classes for my Associate's Degree.

Blog Update:
I am changing this blog to include the entire family. Although it will still mainly focus on Maddy. So Club Foot Readers don't stop reading.

I will try to update weekly to bi-weekly. Please forgive me if it is a little longer than that every now and then.

Feet Update

Sorry no picture, I haven't put the new ones on my computer.

Maddy had her ortho appointment last week. Her feet looked good, and Maddy only has to wear her shoes for 12 hours a day. (We were doing 16 hours.) I expressed concern about Maddy's left foot, it tends to turn when she is out of the shoes. Also when we hold Maddy in a standing position or she is in her ExerSaucer, she has a tendency to stand on the sides of her feet instead of the bottoms. Autumn (P.A.) said there is a possibility that Maddy will need another surgery, but we will not know until she is actively walking. This surgery requires general anesthia. A tendon on the top of the foot would be moved to the other side of the top of the foot. It requires two incisions. Both feet may need the surgery because the right foot does it also, but not as bad. Maddy has her next appointment in November.

Maddy Is 6 Months Old & Foot Update

Maddy weighs in at 14 pounds now. She is still small for her age, 10% in height and head circumference, and 25% in weight. Maddy had her ears pierced and received four shots. She did surprisingly well the rest of the day.

I asked Maddy's doctor if Maddy's feet looked the same as other 6 month olds. First, she reminded me of what Maddy's feet looked like when she was born. Then she showed me the differences, such as the tops of her feet are puffier and the way her feet are angled.

The Dennis-Browne shoes hold Maddy's feet at a 60 degree angle, so when the shoes are off, her feet are still angled outward instead of straight. I don't know if her feet will correct themselves when she starts walking or if the ortho doc. will change the degree as she gets older. Maddy has an ortho appointment this month so I will ask then.

Also, Maddy is now getting up on her hands and knees in the crawling position. Our ortho doc. said that when she did this we could do the shoes for naps and night time instead of 20 hours a day. I was so excited!!!

Well, that's the Maddy update.

Maddy Is Teething

Maddy will chew or gum anything. She has finally realized that her shoes are good for something besides her feet.

Look for more posts soon. She is learning new things everyday.

Two days ago, Maddy managed to roll also the living room floor (with her shoes on). We are starting to babyproof now. And today Maddy started manuvering herself. I put a toy to her right (a little out of reach) she was able to turn her body to get to the toy. Maddy is also preparing to crawl. She is lifting most of her torso off the floor and pushing herself backward with her hands. When she does that she is wanting to go forward, but hasn't figured it out yet. I want to master new skills, but I also want her to stay small since she is our last baby. Oh well, I know they must grow.