Part 2: The Doctor
We were referred to Children's Orthopedics of Atlanta near Scottish Right Children's Hospital and made an appointment to see Dr. Douglas Kehl, MD. So early in the morning on the April 6, 2000 (12 days after Katie was born) Terri, Katie and I headed through Atlanta's morning rush hour traffic to the other side of town. As we waited in the waiting room we were once again reassured that our troubles were minor compared to what some of the other children had to go through. Then it came to be our turn. We were ushered back to the room as all the nurses and assistants looked at the little baby in our arms and ohh'ed and ahh'ed over how precious she was, how quiet she was (she didn't cry the whole time in the waiting room) and helped our nervousness dissipate. Once we reached the room it was back to waiting for the doctor. As we waited I found a medical book and looked up club feet. Much to our surprise the extent of her club feet wasn't as bad as we had thought.
Then the doctor came in he was a big man with a booming voice, not big as in fat but football player big it almost looked like Katie disappeared in his hands. Before we could get nervous about him he spoke in a way that made us comfortable with him as if Katie was his own child. He confirmed that she had bilateral club foot (English translation: both feet needed to be fixed) and explained what he wanted to do. He stated that he wanted to try moving the feet into position and then wrapping them in casts to hold them in place. He would see us every 10 days and re-move the feet and re-cast them. This worked about 25% of the time but would be much easier on Katie than surgery, the next option.
Terri and I agreed to this and off to the casting room we went. Katie got her first set of casts, the doctors office finally got to hear her, and our once every 10 days trips to the doctor trips started.
Katie with her first set of casts
