[Congenital Disease] I asked Professor Song for help due to severe toe walking after surgery at a private hospital.

Date of Birth : Born in April 2008 (6 years old)/Female

Disease : Achondroplasia

 I am the parent of a child with achondroplasia as above.

 To get to the conclusion first, my daughter is now comfortably sleeping behind me as I write this (2014.07.14) after receiving calf lengthening revision surgery and toe walking correction surgery at Korea University Guro Hospital in May 2014, and wearing corrective shoes after the toe walking correction was completed.

 The reason I am writing this is because I hope it will be of some help to parents who have children with achondroplasia and are about to have surgery or are planning to have surgery.

 First of all, as a parent of a child diagnosed with achondroplasia, I think you have made every effort, including searching the internet for information on limb lengthening surgery, as the best way to reduce the height difference between our child and their peers through limb lengthening surgery.

We also searched the Internet a lot for information on surgical methods, hoping that my child would grow to a similar height as their peers as soon as possible through limb lengthening surgery, or that they would complete limb lengthening surgery before entering elementary school and get along well with friends without feeling inferior.

 However, please read about our experiences below and make a wise decision, as your parents' wrong choice can make a young child more difficult and waste time.

I was diagnosed with achondroplasia in 2010, and in 2011, I received outpatient treatment at Korea University Guro Hospital to receive limb lengthening surgery as soon as possible.

 At the time of the outpatient visit, I was told that surgery was not possible because I was too young and that surgery was possible after the age of 6. After receiving outpatient treatment about twice, I stopped visiting the hospital and started looking for information on the Internet about how to have surgery earlier.

The problem seems to have started here.

 So, the method we found was to confirm on the Internet that limb lengthening surgery was possible at ○○ private hospital in Seoul, and we visited the hospital in early 2013 and had calf lengthening surgery in April 2013.

 The hospital told us that we should do rehabilitation exercises such as steady walking after calf lengthening surgery to minimize surgical side effects such as toe walking, so we worked hard to do rehabilitation exercises, but toe walking began to occur.

 I guess the muscles couldn't keep up with the bone lengthening.

 I continued to wear corrective shoes, but the front of my foot was pressed down due to toe walking, and bedsores developed on both soles of my feet. I was diagnosed with stage 4 bedsores at a nearby hospital and was told not to apply pressure until the bedsores were completely healed. It was a difficult situation where I couldn't do rehabilitation exercises such as walking until the bedsores were completely healed.

 As a result, the symptoms of toe walking gradually worsened, and later the symptoms of toe walking became so severe that I couldn't even wear corrective shoes.

Looking back now, I wish I had corrected the toe walking through toe walking correction surgery when the symptoms of toe walking appeared, but ○○ private hospital in Seoul did not take any action and only repeated that I should do rehabilitation exercises hard.

 I was only told that if the symptoms of toe walking did not go away with rehabilitation exercises, they would tear the muscles a little later.

 In November 2014, after many twists and turns, I removed the calf external fixator while in toe walking, and received walking and other rehabilitation treatments in the physical therapy room and was discharged from the hospital. However, immediately after being discharged, the leg that had undergone lengthening surgery was strange, and as a result of checking, the left leg that had undergone lengthening surgery was fractured and I had to undergo external fixator surgery again.

 In March 2014, the external fixator was removed, but this time, the second left leg was fractured again immediately after being discharged, and this time I was discharged with only a cast on the fractured area.

 The leg that had undergone calf lengthening surgery was fractured twice, and my wife massaged and massaged her fingers all day long to try to eliminate the symptoms of toe walking for rehabilitation, but the symptoms of toe walking showed no signs of being resolved.

 Through these processes, we began to wonder whether our current judgments and actions were appropriate.

 Finally, I visited Korea University Guro Hospital in May 2014 with a cast on my fractured leg, and as a result of the examination, I heard that my toe walking and the elongated calf bone were bent when they should have been straight, and that my calf bones were very weak due to osteoporosis due to lack of exercise for a long time.

 In May 2014, I had surgery to correct the bent leg bone and toe walking correction surgery, and in July 2014, I removed the toe walking correction device, and the external fixator was scheduled to be removed in early August.

 Now, it seems that I can walk right away if I remove the calf external fixator, and I feel so good when I see my daughter sitting on a chair and working hard to exercise her legs by herself.

 While going through these processes for more than a year since the first lengthening surgery in April 2013, I realized that parents' hasty judgment or thoughts can make their children more difficult, and that a hospital that can immediately respond to side effects that may occur after surgery is what makes patients and guardians feel comfortable.

 My daughter seems to be so happy that her height is increasing, and she doesn't seem to worry about the scars on her legs caused by several surgeries, and she seems to be very happy that her height has increased.

That's why I feel more heartbroken and sorry.

I don't want to resent the director of ○○ private hospital in Seoul who performed the first surgery on my daughter.

I think the teacher also did his best.

All decisions are made by the parents, and the child only follows them.

 I hope that this disorganized article will be helpful for the wise judgment of parents who are planning limb lengthening surgery in the future.

 Finally, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Song Hae-ryong and the doctors at Korea University Guro Hospital who turned our despair into hope.