A Clubfoot Mom

It has been a minute since I released a new episode and I thought I would give a little update on my cutie's clubfoot and what's been happening in our lives. Looking forward to releasing more episodes soon. As always, if there is content you want to hear about, please reach out! I thrive on the feedback from you all.

For the first episode of season 4 of A Clubfoot Mom podcast features a conversation with Emily Mallion a clubfoot mom and author of the children's book "Do You Have Magic Boots?" centered around the clubfoot journey. Emily talks about her son's clubfoot journey and the unique experience they had traveling the world as a family while he was in BnB. She gives her top 5 tips for traveling and how the experience traveling informed her writing her book. A huge thanks to Emily for being a guest and to check out her book click this link: https://emilymallionbooks.com/

In this episode I talk about the challenges we faced with our cutie that we might have attributed to the BnB which in hindsight was actually probably more about her personality than anything else. It is hard enough trying to figure out what an infant needs and then you add in a medical device and it adds another layer of complexity. This is my reflection of how what I think was less about BnB and more about my cutie.

A first ever for the podcast, an episode dedicated to physical therapy and clubfoto treatment, with my incredible guest Denise Watson. Denise is an Advanced Practice Physiotherapist who is the lead practioner in the Ponseti Clubfoot Service and has been practicing the Ponseti method for 21 years. I gathered all the questions for this episode directly from parents on Instagram and Denise was gracious enough to answer them all. I learned so much from this conversation and know you will too.

In this episode I discuss what I believe is one of the most important and often overlooked questions that needs to be asked in your consultation with your clubfoot treatment providers. There are great resources available with technical Ponseti questions that delve in to experience and treatment protocol, but this is a question I think is equally as important for parents. Listen and see if you feel the same.

As my cutie gets older and enters into more organized sports, I wonder whether or not I should be telling her coaches or gym teachers about her clubfoot? I don't pretend to have the answer, I just walk through my experience with her gymnastics coach and trying to determine the best path forward with disclosing her clubfoot diagnosis to people.

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a bad review for my book Clubfoot Chronicles, and in this episode I discuss how I felt about the review and what it made me consider in relation to my work within the clubfoot community.

Catherine Mclean is a young woman living with clubfoot it the UK and discusses her experience of clubfoot with us on this episode. Catherine talks about how she viewed her clubfoot as a child, and how things changed when she was no longer had follow up appointments and began to experience pain as a teenage. She talks about her experience at university and how she has managed to advocate for herself to make the necessary accommodations to improve her quality of life. Catherine and I also have an interesting discussion about when and how to tell coaches and teachers about the clubfoot diagnosis. A huge thank you to Catherine for being a guest and sharing her story with us.

Anjie England is back in this episode to give us all her insights and experiences of traveling with her son Aaron for his clubfoot relapse treatment. She gives advice on how to navigate airport security, manage flights, and where to stay when you are out of state. Anjie is a wealth of knowledge in this department and I know that there are a fair amount of families who have to travel for treatment and I am so grateful for Anjie's willingness to talk about her experience.

In this short and sweet episode, I give you information about the upcoming Zoom event, "Stepping Forward Together", a parent event sponsored by MD Orthopaedics. The event is dedicated to clubfoot parents and features experienced orthotists, Shannon O'Shea from Hanger Clinic and Ksenia Major from Boston O&P. We gathered FAQ from the clubfoot community about the bracing phase of treatment and Shannon and Ksenia will be answering those questions. Anyone can register, it is completely free, and it is really focused on being an additional resource for clubfoot parents. Click this link to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L1rR3GgLQDKp609VCLDIgw?fbclid=IwAR0tC12XVgRa6qFHz-umcsSzon56oqxNyvXq8tqg7OE31CCZ9dT7gNvNWwo#/registration

In this follow up episode to the For Family and Friends of Clubfoot Cuties, I talk more in depth about the different ways you can support clubfoot parents at different phases of treatment. I start with diagnosis and go through extended brace wear and give ideas on what support might be helpful and what things you might want to avoid saying or doing for clubfoot parents. I speak from my own experience of what worked for me but also as a parent who wish she had accepted more help from friends and family during really challenging parts of treatment. If you are clubfoot parent this will be an episode you might share with your friends and family, and even to jumpstart a conversation about what support might look like for you as support looks different for everyone.

This episode is for the extended family and friends of clubfoot cuties and their parents. When parents receive the clubfoot diagnosis of their baby, they can feel overwhelmed with learning about the diagnosis, researching treatment methods and providers, and emotionally processing it all. I created this episode specifically for parents to refer anyone in their life to learn the basics of clubfoot and its treatment. If you are a clubfoot parent who is trying to learn themselves about clubfoot and don't know where to start to explain to you family and friends, this episode is here for you to refer them to. This episode is very informational and there will be a follow up episode with suggestions on how to support clubfoot parents at different phases of treatment. It is my sincere hope that this episode can be used a resource for you to send your friends and family who are wanting to know more about clubfoot and its treatment.

Betsy Miller joins me to talk about the upcoming release of Clubfoot Connections: Stories, Essays, and Poetry from the Clubfoot Community. Betsy talks about how the idea for this anthology came about and how we were able to take the idea and make it happen. I am so excited for this book to be released and we talk about how important it is to provide a space for all clubfoot experiences, which was a goal of ours for this book. We are so grateful for each of the authors who submitted a piece of their stories to create this amazing resource for the clubfoot community, Clubfoot Connections will be available for on June 2, 2023, just in time for World Clubfoot Day. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for information about the book and for fun giveaways.

Erica Atha is the mother of a clubfoot cutie who joins me on the podcast today to talk about her son's clubfoot journey and her clubfoot parent experience. Erica ad I formed a friendship over social media and she has been an amazing support for me throughout this whole podcast and I am excited for her to share her story with you all. This conversation was fun for me because it felt like two friends chatting. A huge thank you to Erica for being a guest and I hope you really enjoy this episode.

In this episode I talk about the big party we threw for our cutie when she graduated from BnB. I talk about why we wanted to throw a party, the special items I ordered for her and a full run through of how the party went. Ending BnB is A HUGE deal for clubfoot families and I talk about why it was so important for us to celebrate in such a big way.

This episode is a first for the podcast as it features a mom who has two kiddos who were born with clubfoot, Katherine Jardine. Katherine lives in the UK where both her sons received clubfoot treatment and works for the Global Clubfoot Initiative. Katherine talks about the differences in her sons treatments based on their severity level, how she felt when her second child was diagnosed with clubfoot, and where she sees the difference between her sons personalities now. It was such an insightful conversation, where I learned a lot about how no two clubfeet are the same. I am so grateful to Katherine for being a guest and know you will enjoy this episode! https://globalclubfoot.com/

Our cutie has officially graduated from her BnB and I talk about how the end came about in an unexpected way. I talk about how we made the decision to keep bracing until 5 and about how our cutie reacted when we told her she didn't have to wear her BnB anymore.

In this episode I speak with Semeda, a company based in Germany who creates products for clubfoot treatment. I speak with Harald, Andrea, and Artur a team from Semeda about a wide range of topics pertaining to clubfoot. We discuss the unique challenges clubfoot treatment faces in Europe and where the company sees clubfoot treatment headed in the future. Since we were speaking over seas and they were in a group format, there are bits where the audio got a little tricky, but we persevered and the result was an engaging and interesting conversation about clubfoot. A big thank you to Semeda for being guests on the podcast, it was wonderful to have you on. https://www.semeda.de/english-1/about-semeda/

In a previous episode I talk about how important it is to advocate for your child on the clubfoot treatment journey, but now I am exploring why it is important to advocate for your needs as a parent as well. We hear time and time again that in pediatric care the parents wellness is vital to the wellness of the child they are caring for, and part of that parental wellness is the parents getting what they need from their child's care team as well. If you have more questions after an appointment, how do you get them answered? If you need more resources than what have been provided, how do you go about getting them? I explore these topics and why it is important for parents to advocate for their needs in their child's treatment journey.

While watching my cutie play at an indoor play place recently, I realized how zeroed in I am on not just my cutie's feet but all kiddo feet. I talk about my experience watching other kiddos walk, run and jump and wonder what other parents, with non-clubfoot kids, think about this. I will always be over analytical of her feet, but this clubfoot journey has made me analytical of all feet.