A Documentary About Clubfoot: The Footnote Film Project

One of the cool things about running a blog is all of the interesting people you get to meet.  We hear a lot from parents who are going through a similar journey, and experiencing the frustration, fears, and hope that come with a child with clubfoot.

While those conversations are always our favorite, sometimes other cool things happen.  Such as being contacted by The Footnote Film Project - a group of people who are making a documentary about the world wide treatment of clubfoot.

The treatment of clubfoot has come along way in even just the last 20 years.  But much of what is considered "normal" treatment of clubfoot in the United States isn't known / practiced around the world.  (And in some places it's not even treated that way in the United States.)  The Footnote Film Project hopes to help raise the awareness of how the type of treatment impacts the life of someone with clubfoot.

If you're interested in supporting The Footnote Film Project, you can visit their Fundly page for more information. Or watch the trailer below...

From Pirate to Playskool

For the last six weeks, Heather and I have been living in Denial.  (It's a nice little place, lots of neighbors.)  Why were we in Denial?  Because neither of us wanted to believe that Eli would face yet another surgery.  Yet there we were.  Once again sitting at Children's Hospital. 

While at our last Orthopedics visit, the doctor made a comment about Eli's eyes.  We knew we had to face reality, and that meant seeing another specialist. So over the last four months we've been dealing with eye issues.  All of that "ended" on last Friday when Eli had surgery. 

The good news is Eli has been doing very well since.  This was Eli's fifth surgery in 21 months, and by far the easiest he's faced from a recovery point.   He was able to sleep almost continuously from the time the anesthesia knocked him out to 5:00, when we finally got him out of bed.  The only times he woke up were when I had to carry him to someplace new (like his stroller, car seat, and bed.)

Things with his health are always difficult.  It's hard as a parent to see your kid sick.  But Eli also seems to have the super-human ability to always be on the extreme end of illness.  So in the back of our minds, we're always worried about the other shoe dropping. 


That's why seeing Eli up right after sleeping through much of the day will live in my memory as one of the greatest memories of my lfie.  And even better, I was able to get it on camera...

The first time he's every "played" with his toys - 15 minutes after waking up

While this may seem like any kid playing on the floor this is the first time Eli has done two things:

1) lay on the floor on his stomach.
2) play with his Batman Little People.

We always assumed Eli was delayed in some of his play.  Or that he just didn't have interest in non-physical activity (he spent the first 6 months of his life on his back, so I can understand.) We simply had no way of knowing that so much of his play was being limited by his ability to see.  As a parent it's heartbreaking to know that your kid struggled in silence because you didn't know there was a problem.  But the good news is, we were able to get it fixed.  And for that, we are eternally thankful.