On Tuesday we headed to hospital, 2 hours away, to have Starbaby's slipped cast changed... we were seen really quickly as our fab consultant and physio were popping in especially in between other commitments.
Starbaby's cast was removed by yet another lovely casting nurse (what a stark contrast to our old hospital) and then our consultant had a good look at his foot - she said it had lost some correction due to the slip, but that's not a surprise, and overall now it's settled I can see it's still in the position it seems to have stayed in over the past few weeks. It's proving a tricky one, this foot!
They started putting on his next cast, but within a few minutes I looked up from distracting Starbaby with lots of funny noises and realised they were taking the cast off. Our consultant said that she didn't feel confident that this cast wouldn't slip as well (the last 4 casts have all had some shiftage or a full on slip) and didn't want us and Starbaby to have to deal with the stress of that.
Starbaby has neurological talipes which is why his treatment journey has been rocky and why his casts keep slipping. It's frustrating, but at the same time I'm feeling quite used to it now. This is our new normal!
So the current plan is for Starbaby to be cast-free for the next few weeks, and then he'll be having a tenotomy (operation to cut his achilles tendon) under general anaesthetic. Hopefully the result of that will be to bring his heel down and allow his foot to be manipulated into a position which will help the next cast stay put in the right position so his foot can finally get closer to being corrected.
Starbaby got his first cast nearly 5 months ago... we were expecting 2 months in casts, 3 months in BnBs full time and him to be free of them in the daytime around now. But this journey has ended up being trickier than we expected... I'm frustrated with our local hospital for many reasons... but I'm now feeling more accepting that this is the journey we're on, it's complicated, but we are now in the very best hands.
Your new Consultant sounds fab, knowing Starbaby is in good hands will hopefully make this journey a little easier to accept. The road maybe long but you will get there x
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