Garrison's Clubfoot Page

Baby Garrison's Clubfoot Page

I think it's safe to say that

Baby

Garrison started this whole

Ponseti

Movement

for me. Having two children born with clubfeet

was

odd ball enough.

Having three elevated me to celebrity

status

among the

Nosurgery4Clubfoot (@yahoogroups) crowd.

Suddenly I was expected

to be some expert on the topic.

I'm not an expert by any means. To the contrary, I know very little

about

clubfeet beyond my own experiences with the condition.

The reason

being is that I don't want to be a clubfoot expert.

I just want to be a Mom. I don't want to be identified as the woman

with

three clubfooted sons. I don't want my sons being identified

as that kid

with clubfoot. So we're not. I don't play the martyr,

they don't play the

ictims

. But that didn't change the fact that it

became widely known

that I WAS the mother of 3 clubfooted sons,

and thus, I was expected to

know more.

That's when I started putting together a web site that would

answer the

questions so I didn't have to. It started with one little

page. Now I've

grown it, hoping it will serve as a fairly well

organized data base for new

parents who are seeking information

and advice. With great joy I check

my stats for these pages and

discover they gets hits from all over the

world.

My main goal has always been though, to show the world that

clubfoot,

when treated by expert hands, as Dr. Ponseti puts it, is

no handicap to

the otherwise normal, healthy child.

It's not a handicap to the child, the parents or the family, I hope

that as

you view the pages about my children you will put away

any doubts you

may have about your own child growing up

normal. We're not a family of

clubfooted kids, we're just a family.

We make no concessions nor

allowances, because they require

none. We just do the things we love

to do, and you can too.

I have kept a better catalog of Garrison's treatment, knowing this

was

my last shot to document this amazing treatment process first

hand.

Because of our unique

circumstance,

John Mitchell

has asked us to

test

a few

prototypes of his

brace since he began

their

construction in 2003.

Our study began with Everett

wearing

one of the first J/M

FAB's built, when he

was an

infant of about 3 or 4 months

old.

To learn more about the

clubfoot shoe built by MD

Orthopaedics, founded by John

Mitchell, click on the links given

here:

Mitchell Clubfoot Shoes
MD Orthopaedics Clubfoot Brace
Mitchell Articulating Bar
Mitchell Foot Abduction Brace Photos

Everett and Garrison ride the car.

Everett and Garrison crash the car.

Everett drives, Garrison rides.
12/06

Here I will show you a small
photo essay of Garrison's
treatment in Iowa City with our
most beloved Dr. Ignacio V.
Ponseti.

Three days old.

Dr. Ponseti with myself, Brian, Everett
and Garrison. March 29, 2006

Feet at birth, prior to treatment.

Dr. Ponseti applies a cast.

Big brothers, Brian and Everett, have
their fun with the new baby, decorating
with Easter eggs, and coloring the
casts.

Two casts bring us this far.

Three casts get us to here - and we go
home from Iowa tomorrow, wearing the
fourth cast.

Following a fourteen hour drive,
Garrison reacquaints with Granny
June....

.....while Everett sacks out in the chair
after a long, hard two weeks out of
state (and still 20 miles from home!)

It's OK little brother. Soaking casts off at Ronald McDonald House.

Garrison grew too fast to accomplish his full three weeks in
his come-home casts...he only made it 10 days before his
toes hung over and his feet began to swell. Since he did not
have a tenotomy that needed time to heal, we opted to
removed his casts at this time.

The photos prove the casting, and the
'amateur' removal of the casts at home
was neither difficult nor traumatic to
Garrison who was six weeks old. With
both casts removed, his feet look
amazing, and so does he!