How do you deal with Nosy People? Share and Comment to show your Support!
When I was 25 and just about five and a half months pregnant with my first child, I found out he had clubfoot. When I would tell family and friends, most would be supportive and tell me it’s no big deal, and not to worry. However, there are always going to be those few people who can’t help but see the absolute worse.
When my son was born and at 4 days old, he received his first set of casts. They were on his whole legs, from the groin all the way down to the tips of his very precious toes. Not only that, but we had to go every week, to get recast. And everywhere we went, there would always be some gawker, who had to go get her husband, friend and come back so they could point and stare.
The really brave ones would come up to me, and ask me what happened. Upon hearing my response, they would automatically assume that it was something I had done wrong during my pregnancy to cause him to have clubfoot, but it’s not, it’s hereditary. We dealt with people like that with smiles and a thoughtful nod, while my cheeks burned red. It felt like I could see the finish line, way off in the distance, but at least I could finally see it.
After 12weeks of castings, we had the heel cord cut, and you guessed it – another 6 weeks of casts. Then he moved on to the Ponseti method, consisting of a special pair of boots, with a bar in between them that linked the two boots together, (he looked like a little snowboarder). He wore that for 23 hours a day, for about one year. People would comment about how difficult it must be for my son, how awful for him they would say.
The thing is, my son doesn’t know anything else, to him this is normal, and they are the weird ones. Then we finally got to just 12 hours a day, for the next 3 years. At 4 years old, he was supposed to be done with the boots and the bar. Here we are approaching his 5th birthday in a few months, and we are back to getting weekly casts again, granted it’s not the entire leg and he can walk on it.
For anyone out there whose child has clubfoot, or is just finding out their child is going to have clubfoot, just know that it is not a big deal. Life goes on, stay calm and use Ponseti method.
