Well, sort of. Naked legs, anyway. A few weeks ago, we started serial-casting Oliver again (putting casts on his legs for a week, taking him back, changing the casts) because his feet had started migrating back to the club foot position. For two weeks, it worked great. Then, on Saturday, off slipped his left cast. This has always been our problem -- when he was being casted from August-December, his casts always fell off. After his surgery in December, his casts didn't even stay on a week before they slipped off. Same thing with his AFOs (braces), which is why he hasn't been wearing them, which is why his feet have turned back. A vicious cycle. Since I had to work yesterday, Tim had to take him to King of Prussia (far, far away in PA) to get the cast replaced, because that is where our orthopedist was yesterday. When Tim got there, he waited (as is customary when visiting this doctor). While he was waiting, the nurse took off Oliver's remaining cast, saying that the doctor would just replace both casts today so that we didn't have to come back Friday.
Fast forward to the doctor coming in, looking at Oliver's feet and saying "I give up." Um, excuse me? Seriously, that's the last thing a parent wants to hear. I get what he is saying, but his delivery/attitude could be a bit better. This is the same man who called Oliver's legs obese (UM, EXCUSE ME?!), so we have to take it with a grain of salt. What he should have said was that his feet aren't in much better position than they were when we started this round of casting, and the casts weren't staying on, anyway. Without the casts moving his feet into place, the AFOs won't fit. So what is there to do? A good question. His upper legs are "obese" because that's where his working muscles are. His calves and feet are smaller because he has no muscle tone there. So what are we going to do? What do other people do? The answer for now is to stretch, with probable surgery in the future. A totally unsatisfactory answer, because stretching alone is what got him back in the casts.
There are a few upsides to this. 1) Oliver is thrilled to see his feet again. You should see him kick them up when he is laying down. Very happy -- loves his feet. 2) Now that he is eating table food, I would find all sorts of food in his casts. Gross! This latest set was stained with orange ice-pop, anyway. 3) He can have bathes and go swimming! 4) We don't have to drive him to Philly every week.
We still have a great physical therapist, and hopefully, she will be able to help us compensate. I know that I am thinking too far ahead by wanting him to stand (for which he would need flat feet) since he isn't crawling yet. But now that he is officially falling behind in "regular baby" stuff, I am anxious to get him moving ahead. I guess this will be a constant tug as he grows up; balancing hopes and expectations with reality. But I would rather hope and push than wait and see.
