Percutaneous Tenotomy @ 7 weeks old

April 12, 2004

Hi, I am new here. My son is being treated with the Ponsetti Method

at Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis, MO. He will be seven weeks old

this week and is already having his Percutaneous Tenotomy on

Thursday.

I am just wondering if any of you had experiences with the

Percutaneous Tenotomy so early. If so, how did you baby do before,

during, after? I am so paranoid and scared! I know some doctors

only do a local for this, but our doctor is putting him completey

under. I guess that is what scares me the most. Any comments,

advice, stories are appreciated! Thanks!

April 13, 2004

My son had a tenotomy done at 7 weeks and he wasn't even at his due date

(he was 7 1/2 weeks early). He did just fine but they kept him in

Children's Hospital over night because he was not at gestional age yet. He

had no bleeding and only had trouble keeping food down right after surgery

because they put in out as well. (45 minutes from the time we left him to

recovery room) He did not seem to be in any pain but we did give him some

Tylenol just in case. Best of luck, your son will be fine.

It was much harder on mommy and daddy than the baby!!!! =)

and Cole

At 07:33 PM 4/12/2004 +0000, you wrote:

>Hi, I am new here. My son is being treated with the Ponsetti Method

>at Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis, MO. He will be seven weeks old

>this week and is already having his Percutaneous Tenotomy on

>Thursday.

>

>I am just wondering if any of you had experiences with the

>Percutaneous Tenotomy so early. If so, how did you baby do before,

>during, after? I am so paranoid and scared! I know some doctors

>only do a local for this, but our doctor is putting him completey

>under. I guess that is what scares me the most. Any comments,

>advice, stories are appreciated! Thanks!

>

April 13, 2004

My son had his tenotomy when he was 6 wks old. He had just a local

anesthesia--it was an outpatient procedure. Our dr wasn't sure,

however, if he'd need a general, so it was done in the OR rather than

the dr's office. He was very sleepy afterwards but I was able to get

him to nurse before we left the hospital.

Jake had a cast on again, right after the procedure. It is common for

there to be a little blood that soaks thru the heel, but Jake's didn't

do that. We were instructed to try and keep his leg elevated for the

first few days. I just put a folded towel or baby blanket underneath

the cast.

For pain medication, we were told just to use baby tylenol. I gave it

to him every 4 hrs the first day, and I think I gave it to him the 2nd

day as well, but he was pretty much back to his usual happy self by then.

The first day was by far the worst. Jake would sleep a couple hours,

and then wake up...I'd have about 30 sec to get him on the breast or

he'd start shrieking in pain!! He'd nurse and then go back to

sleep...wake up in a couple hours, and it would start all over again.

It was very hard for me, to see him in pain like that. But, by that

evening he was pretty much back to normal.

My best advice to you would be to make sure you can have another adult

available to you on the day of the procedure. My husband went along for

the actual surgery, but had to go to work afterwards, so I was alone

with Jake the whole day. It would have been much better for me to have

had someone else there with me, for support.

Best wishes! I'm sure the procedure will go well.

Kassia

mommy to Jake 3/22/01 (Lt clubfoot, ATTT surg 4/27/04)

and 11/22/02

April 13, 2004

My son is also treated there by Dr. Dobbs. He was also 7 weeks old

when he had the tenotomy! He is now 2 years and 8 months old. He

also had general anesthesia because this is the way that Shriner

facility prefers it. I had mixed feelings. I was worried about him

being put to sleep, but was glad he was not going to experience any

discomfort during the procedure. I didn't become real upset until

the anesthesia provider talked to us with all the risks and it was

time for them to take him away. But then he was only gone for about

probably 15 minutes and they were back taking us to him in the

recovery room. We got to hold him and feed him almost as soon as he

got into the recovery room. He had a LOT of pain that day. We drove

home and that made it really hard on him, but I didn't think he would

do well in a hotel either. If I had it all over to do again though I

would have stayed the night. Our usual 4 hour trip was closer to 7

hours for all the stops we made to get him out of the car seat to

hold him, feed him, comfort him. He was much better the next day

though. We went back when he was 10 weeks old and got the DBB. We

go back now about every 6 months. Good Luck.

Pam and (8-12-01)

> Hi, I am new here. My son is being treated with the Ponsetti

Method

> at Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis, MO. He will be seven weeks old

> this week and is already having his Percutaneous Tenotomy on

> Thursday.

>

> I am just wondering if any of you had experiences with the

> Percutaneous Tenotomy so early. If so, how did you baby do before,

> during, after? I am so paranoid and scared! I know some doctors

> only do a local for this, but our doctor is putting him completey

> under. I guess that is what scares me the most. Any comments,

> advice, stories are appreciated! Thanks!

April 13, 2004