We can definitely say that she delivered on all counts. She confirmed everything we were told at Cranial Tech, the company that we visited earlier this week for his evaluation. That made us feel even better about the service we received at Cranial Tech, though not exactly happy that our little boy has a definite issue.
Evan's cute little head at 3 months. Compared to the scan, it looks like the flat spot has stayed pretty much the same, which is sort of good news
Evan's plagiocephaly is too severe to be fixed with physical therapy alone, so we'll be moving forward with the helmet - his scan is next week and he'll get it on the 10th! Evan also has very tight neck and back muscles, which is where the physical therapy comes in. The good news is he still has full range of motion on his "bad" side, which is really unusual, but it's really important to treat everything, as this side favoring could lead to developmental issues and visual processing problems on his weak side. However, the physical therapist was incredibly optimistic that with regular visits and practice at home, we can make excellent progress. He also needs to go get his hips checked out, as he has some asymmetry there, but hopefully that's nothing.
Now the question is, how will we decorate it :). There are so many cute designs out there, but many of them need skilled artists, and alas, my abilities are lacking (and funds aren't quite there to ship it to one of the few great artists out there! Doesn't mean a girl can't dream, though. Here are a few of my favorites (by lazardo, and artist out of Washington):
In reality, we'll probably be buying some decals off of a website specializing in helmet decorations. I've actually been emailing with one to help design one for "A Very Hungry Caterpillar". The biggest concern, beyond things working well for Evan, is that I hear there can be a lot of bad reactions to kids in helmets, from thinking that you did something to mess up your child, to awkward staring. However, if the helmet is cute/fun, people usually focus on that instead. Fingers crossed I can make it really fun!
I won't lie - it isn't easy to have the list of things "wrong" with Evan growing, but we're just focusing on the fact that all of them are fixable and that we've started the process at the ideal time to make excellent progress.
We appreciate everyone's good thoughts for our sweet little boy. Fingers crossed that between the helmet and physical therapy, Evan will be in tip top shape in no time.
I didn't realize you guys were dealing with Tort/Plag too! I read all the way back to figure out when you got the helmet and why because I have been struggling with the guilt of Not getting a helmet, despite our DR saying R doesn't need it, we dealt with Torticollis until she was 5 months old, and her flat spot is not "gone" like everyone said it would be since "we caught it so early"....I feel like I am going to feel like a terrible parent if I take the Dr (who didn't even notice her Tort until she was 2 months old and someone ELSE told me what might be going on) at her word and R ends up not being able to wear sports helmets or something later in life. Of course its a little different here in that we can't even get an eval without a Dr referral.... I wish you and Evan the best of luck in your journey!
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