The medical updates are getting more spaced out now, which is probably good news. We are still a long way from done with our club foot and hip dysplasia journey, though.
M had an orthopaedic check up last week, focused a bit more on his hips this time. He had an X-Ray again, and the news was pretty good. His hip is now clearly in the joint, situated as it should be. The only lingering concern now is that on the left side the ball isn't beginning to form, which it typically should be by this point. It is possible it is just behind due to months of not using that joint normally, or for other innocuous reasons, and it could catch up on its own. But with hip treatment generally the approach is better safe than sorry, so we will continue to use the hip brace at night for another 4 months until the X-Ray is repeated.
His feet are maintaining the correction pretty well so far, and his gross motor skills are progressing. He is still several months delayed, which makes sense given how long he spent in casts. The question at this point is whether that is all that is going on, or whether there could be other problems holding back his development. While we are hopeful he will just catch up, we want to make sure we are on top of any possible difficulties, so we are pursuing some additional testing. Next month we will meet with a neuromuscular specialist to hear his thoughts.
It is frustrating to everyone to have a toddler who can't toddle, but M continues to maintain his cheerful and determined disposition in the face of challenges. He is even overcoming his fear of medical offices--our last visit meant spending nearly two hours at the hospital, including being held still for the X-rays and being examined by the doctor he associates with the casting process, but he didn't cry at all. That was a first! He's learning new words every day, and conquering all the other milestones you would expect. I'm looking forward to seeing his thousand watt grin on the day he can actually put one foot in front of the other.
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