Friday's appt

Friday morning we are up and ready to leave around 6:30. As soon as Mike puts Michala in the van she starts having a major seizure. Maybe the excitement of leaving that early. She thought we were going to Disney World probably. What a way to start a morning. I just said let's get them out of the way first thing.

We get to Monroe and Mike goes to Starbucks and Chick-fil-A. We were all happy and ready to ride by this time. Everyone did really good.

We stopped at the rest stop before the hospital to get everyone changed and ready for Abe's appt. It had been a year since we had been and that was when Abe was in the NICU so I didn't go. I was really excited for Abe's appt.

We get off the elevator and this is the first time ever we weren't greeted by at least one Shriner. Mike had told me last time they were in the process of changing a lot of things. In the attempt for organizing things they have made it very cold and uncaring. It's like being cattle pushed through. I was shocked. It's not family oriented and definitely child oriented any more.

Once we went to the different places to get registered it was about 30 minutes before we got called back. That worked really well cause it gave us time to get medicines for everyone. When we were called over the intercom to go back we went to where we were told. A nurse came up and told us we needed to move down to the other end of the hall. We moved down there and another nurse asked what we were doing there. We explained and she said we were not supposed to be there. A third nurse came up and ask who we were. She looked at the board and took us to our room. About 20 minutes later a nurse came in and asked where we had been because she had been paging us. We explained what happened after we were paged the first time.

She went over Abe's meds and told us that the doctor would be in shortly. The PA came in and ask a few questions about Abe's medical history mainly at birth. She said that she would go get the doctor and they would be right back in. In a little while the social worked came in and was about to go over everything and realized we had been there several time before with the girls. She talked about Abe and wanted to know what kinds of problems he was having with his hips. We explained we weren't there for his hips but his clubfeet. She had the wrong records. She told us what type of treatment they would do as far as casting and we told her we had already had that done. She asked who did it. When we told her she was very excited. She said oh Dr. Westberry is going to be so excited. She said you have to tell him about your experience because he trained under Dr. Ponseti.

About an hour later Dr. Westberry came in. Everyone was getting ansy waiting that long but I like when it takes a doctor longer to get in because usually it means it's a doctor that will take up as much time as needed with you. He walked in and introduced himself. He was across the room from Abe. He asked who did Abe's casting. When we told him you could see a look on his face or so we thought. He said well what are you doing here. We told him Dr. Ponseti was no longer seeing patients and had recommended we come to see him. He said well what do you want from me. We told him we wanted to make sure his feet were fine and he wasn't relasping. From across the room without every touching his feet he said they look good. This was definitely not a certified Ponseti doctor. Dr. Ponseti would be terribly upset if he knew how Abe was treated. He asked what shoes Abe has been wearing. When I showed him he said we don't use those. He said you need to try these and if he doesn't do well with them you will have to order those on your own. He was in the with us less than 5 minutes.

The PA came back in and checked his hips and back. The nurse came back in and sent us to ortho to get his shoes. We checked out and went to ortho.

When we got in ortho we were at the Shriners hospital we knew. They were amazing with the child that was there ahead of us. After Mike knew that that was going to go good he and the girls went to the playground while Abe and I waited. Once he was done with the child before us he asked what we needed. Then he asked a girl what she needed. Hers was something quick so I told him to please go ahead and help them because I didn't mind waiting. He measured Abe's feet and asked me to put his socks on and take him to the room and he would bring the shoes out. He said he wanted to try them on him before he attached them to the bar. When he came to the room he asked what type of shoes Abe has been wearing. When I showed him he said oh no you don't want the shoes that we have. He said the chances of him relapsing with these shoes are much greater. I showed him the problem we had with them. He said you know what we have a leather guy here. Let me see what he can do. He asked who casted Abe's feet. When I told him he said now is that his son or grandson. I said no he doesn't have any children it was actually Dr. Ponseti. He said is he still practicing. I told him that he was 93 when he did Abe's casting and he would be 95 in June. He explained to me that the shoes Abe had been wearing were Dr. Ponseti's design and they were the best shoes. He said I would not change. He touched Abe's feet and really checked them out. He said this is amazing. He said he curls his toes alot. He is hoping with the new straps that will help. It wasn't long before the leather guy brought the shoes out. He put a new piece of leather on the two straps that were covered in duct tape.

We were on our way and had a great afternoon out and about.

That last email went out before I was finished with it. I have been medicated for the past two days and just found out that I have a really bad UTI. Hopefully the antibiotics will take care of that. I wanted to say sorry for the late night text messages that went out last night during my cry for help. Thankfully Amber and Brooke were up late and came to my rescue. Thanks so much ya'll!!!

We did discuss the changes and things with Shriners. We were told that they may be shutting the hospital down. The final word on that should come July of this year. That will be very sad because we have met some amazing doctors and nurses there.

Thanks so much for the prayers for this visit. It reconfirms that we did the right thing by taking Abe to "the man" in Iowa. Amazing doctor! The orthodics technician was saying how sad it is that a doctor that amazing has tried so hard to pass on something so incredible and it just doesn't seem to stick. If Abe has to have any treatment in the future besides just check ups we will definitely go back to Iowa to Dr. Mouquende.