Jonathan's Age

Diana's Age

Monday, August 29, 2011

Diana Ortho Appt




Diana had her Ortho appointment today with Dr. Mehlman and this appointment went SO much better than the one with Dr. Tamai. Dr. Mehlman said Diana has "positional club feet meaning because she was breech her feet turn in. His method of fixing this is different than Dr. Tamai and therefore Diana will not need casts. Dr. Mehlman perscribed shoes and a brace for Diana to wear 23 hours a day for the next 3 months. On November 28th, she will have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Mehlman to see how well the shoes are working. He will decide then if she can go to wearing the shoes/brace for 12 hours a day. I was told to expect that Diana will need to wear the shoes/brace at night until she is about 3 years of age. The tricky part I guess is that club foot can actually come back, which I did not realize. I really liked Dr. Mehlman and he was so good with Diana, it made me realize how awful Dr. Tamai was in my opinion. Dr. Mehlman was able to examine Diana while she remained sleeping in my arms. The only time she cried was when he tried to straighten both feet out for a picture. Now, the fitting of the shoes at the ortho store didn't go as well. She screamed! She was as hot pink as the shirt she was wearing but the guy helping us said this is totally normal as the shoe was putting her foot in a position she is not used to nor probably will like. He told me to just let her wear the shoes for a couple of days and then attach the brace to them to help her get used to the shoes first. I think we have a long road ahead but I am happy that we are correcting her feet. Lately, when she has been trying to stand while I hold her up, whenever she puts weight on her legs, they automatically turn and she stands on the outsides of her feet. She is asleep in her crib right now so hopefully it won't be as bad as I am thinking but I was like "oh great, she just started sleeping through the night and now this." Oh well, I want her feet fixed so if it means less sleep for the two of us, so be it. One thing I have learned from everything I have gone through and my experience with the two ortho doctors, is that you should always get a second opinion. It is crazy to me how doctors opinions can be so different. I don't really understand why and how this can be but I know from now on, if I don't like a doctor or am not comfortable with their opinions, I will not hesitate to get another opinion. Thank you to GB for watching Jonathan all day while I took care of Diana!

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