It was difficult in the beginning.
The first steps went to the Czech Republic, through our acquaintances in Prague, to whom we are very grateful. In Brno it was Dr. Poul, who was one of the first to tell us that the reconstruction of a leg is not possible and neither of a knee, he even gently hinted that amputation might be necessary. He could not give us more information as he wanted to wait for further development of the leg, which should have been in a year, the earliest. In that moment we felt tears welling up in our eyes, despite the fact that we had expected this answer. We thanked him for the information which at least cleared up the situation for us.
If I compare the results with Slovakia, there we received a recommendation for prosthesis. It was roughly at the same time at NICD and it was made for us in Ružinov, but we did not like it immediately. Our son kept taking it off, mainly at night. This prosthesis was not recommended by any professional abroad, whether in Austria, Czech Republic or Germany.
The answer from Brno was clear, but it was not enough to give us a complete picture of how our life will look in the next years. We decided for an alternative in Vienna, as there was another pleasant doctor with obvious experience in the field – DR. RADLER. In short, he just confirmed what we were told in Brno. But we did not want to give up and asked if our son would be able to walk without our help. At that moment, he recommended us a company in Germany that takes care of similar cases for several years and they have extensive experience with various prostheses and aids in human movement system. The company is called Pohlig. After checking their website, we finally saw the small light of hope and we contacted the company requesting a personal meeting or consultation.
The meeting with Pohlig was the most decisive meeting in the field of ortho-prosthetics so far and we are really thankful for the approach of Mr. Musil, who did not hesitate to contact us. His experience and point of view will be definitely mentioned here several more times, especially by thanking him for being the right person and for the mission he is doing in Pohlig. The consultation took place in Trenčín at the premises of NAPREDUJ. It is a private civic association with charming facilities and staff. We are very thankful and I believe that our paths will cross again and that we will be able to help each other. In the end, we found out that in Slovakia ARE people who can help on a professional level.
We had to meet with Mr. Musil because we did not have accurate X-ray images from NICD, or to be exact, he saw absolutely nothing. He recommended us Brno again, coincidentally Dr. Urbášek, who worked in Brno hospital for orthopaedics and was also part of the private clinic Orto Poul. Things have finally started to move after almost a year and we met in the hospital with Dr. Urbášek. He made for us some professional X-ray images that contributed to the opinion that the amputation will not be necessary. A light of hope sparkled again and we could give up on the idea of the most dreaded operation. Mr. Musil decided that they would try to get prosthesis custom-made for Leo´s leg and we will use every part of it that has developed. We were happy that our son would not have to go through this operation at such young age. But we were informed that an MRI examination will be necessary, which in case of babies is carried out in complete anaesthesia. We have mixed feelings, but we know that the situation can be resolved, dear parents, and that we will support our little ones at all costs to have a life full of joy, love and happiness. This way, we want to show our cooperation and help to families who also do not have enough information. We will be grateful for any help and we will be the happiest when the Civic Organisation “LEO’s friends” reaches the level where we will be able to help other families with our exceptional children. ❤❤❤