Talipes Information and Parental Support Group
Eli's Story
Eli Ashton
January 96, with only a few weeks to go before an interstate move our baby had the good
timing to come a week early. Being our second child I didn't do the "count the toes
and fingers" thing, so it was a half hour later when the midwife asked if we'd
noticed Eli had Talipes ("sorry, what??" "Clubfeet"). After seeing
lots of junior doctors and getting lots of maybes and mights Eli was finally plastered 24
hours later for the first time. Unlike our experience here in Victoria (Australia), in New
South Wales it was the Senior physiotherapist who did all the plastering. As a matter of
interest, over 2 states and 3 different plaster technicians Eli has always been plastered
below the 
knee. Three weeks, 4 changes of plaster and still with lots of questions we
moved back to Melbourne. From there it was weekly visits to the Royal Childrens Hospital
until Eli was 3 months. By then the surgeon had "given up" and said that Eli
could be free of plaster until his operations at 6months. It was so lovely to be able to
bath our boy every day. August 96, by this time Eli was just on the verge of crawling but
his first operation knocked that on the head for a while. His only real reaction to the
operations were a 1 hour scream every night for the whole month, but he was otherwise his
beautiful easy self. 11 Nov 96, Rememberence Day is the day I'll always
remember, Eli's
plasters came off and he crawled for the first time that night! Another 3 months in AFO's
and then at the beginning of Feb 97 the good news came, ALL CLEAR. The surgeon has told us
that we don't even need to buy him particular shoes, which I must say surprised me. Eli is
now 14 months and cruises the furniture, walks while pushing things along and other great
things but he still steps quite ridgedly. As for our fears of him hating water, he can't
get enough of the stuff, in any form!! It's been a long year but I would say not half as
hard as I'd imagined it would be.
Pat, Phil, Tia and Eli Ashton
Updated: 5 Sept 1998
Eli is now two and a half years and going fabulously. He runs,
kicks a ball, jumps and does all the "normal" active things a child of his age
is capable of. His last appointment with the surgeon in Melbourne was in
April. We were told that his tibia is twisted and that the outer parts of his feet
droop. At this stage they are just monitoring th
ese things. Apparently a lot of
non-talipes children have twisted tibia without any problems. I also wanted to
mention something I forgot in our original tale. When Eli was having his first
operation, Phil and I waited in the parents room. At that time the Atlanta olympics
where on. When we were talking to other parents there they mentioned that one of the
American olympic basketballers had been born with talipes. So it just shows that the
sky is the limit for our brave little ones.
I'd be happy to receive e-mail from anyone about our experiences.
Pat Ashton
p_ashton@tpg.com.au
Updated 7 December 1998
Eli had his checkup on the 25th of November and all went well with the
specialist but the physio is worried about his "fallen arches" and said that we
need orthotics or shoes with arch supports. This will hopefully prevent any knee
problems in the future.
The pictures are, in order.
Eli at 24hrs old, on the physio's table waiting for plaster.
Eli at 6 months, he'd been out of plaster for 3 months and this was the day of his first
operation.
Eli straight after plaster removal (11 Nov 96)
After Eli's first bath on the same day as the plaster removal.
Updated 24 January 1999
Eli got his orthotics last week, the day before his 3rd birthday. I'm
thrilled. Being only 3 I wasn't sure if he had a bit of a "toddler" walk
or if there was a problem. Well the difference the orthotics make is amazing.
He walks with much straighter legs and doesn't appear to "fall" into each step
as he did. Best of all he doesn't mind the orthotics, even from the first step he
seemed to be comfortable with them.
None of this would have happened if it wasn't for a "chance" meeting with a
physio at the hospital. The surgeon didn't seem to take any notice of Eli's gait,
and I know that left without any orthotic support Eli may have eventually had knee and
back problems. So if any parent has a doubt about how well their child is walking it
is probably worth a chat to the physio. Our surgeon was happy to refer us for
orthotics when we brought it up with him.
Updated 2 September 1999
An update on Eli's latest specialist appointment. The Doctor isn't
happy about Eli's calves being so small as it is apparently a sign that the tendon (I
think!) is still tight. Eli's right foot is turning in a bit and he is also walking
a bit on the outer edge. Anyway he doesn't want to see us for a year but we are now
in the hands of the Physiotherapists at the hospital. They will be plastering Eli for 2
weeks, just while we wait for his new orthotics to be made. I'm not looking forward
to this. We have talked to Eli about it and we saw a young boy at the hospital
walking in his plaster so we have talked about Eli having the same thing. He seems
to understand but we will have to wait and see.
Updated 18 November 2000
Eli recently saw the Ortho, who gave us almost an all clear. He thought
perhaps Eli's right foot came up too much and suggested a night splint to help
pull his foot down. Well the physio we see more regularly was with me and
we agreed that the Ortho was imagining things! So here we are less that
one month later and Eli must have had a major growth spurt and his foot is not
looking good. He now has night splints for both feet to pull them down,
and will be fitted with new orthotics which sound a lot like the AFO's he had as
a bub. His right foot is also
starting to turn in on itself again. That would be why the Ortho is the
specialist and the physio and I are not! :-) I find it so hard to
comprehend that we are now trying to point Eli's feet back down after all the
plastering and ops to get them to come up. Eli starts school next year and
I am really hoping that this is not going to make him self-conscious about his
feet. He's never seen it as much of an issue before but has started
questioning why he was born with club feet and saying he doesn't want to go to
the hospital again (where the physio and Ortho are).
Updated 20 August 2001
We have an appt tomorrow with our orthopaedic surgeon and also the ankle/foot
specialist of the hospital. They should be giving us dates for surgery on
Eli's right foot. We saw them around 5 mths ago and they both wanted time
to research what they would do to help Eli along. Not that he isn't doing
fine, but this is to stop the minor problem becoming major as he grows.
I was going to wait so that I could give you the actual news but we are off
across the country for a few months on Wednesday (specialists timing isn't
great) so I will have to update you when we return. I'm not expecting
anything to happen until after Summer, as the surgeon wasn't keen to have Eli in
plaster over the hotter months of the year.
Eli is loving school. The only hiccup we've had is the cross country.
He did about 100mtrs then pulled out. But he is walking much further than
he used to with no complaints and can now ride his bike with trainers.
Nobody notices his feet at all.