Re: Mommy's trailblazing for Grant

May 21, 2002

Hi :

I just wanted say that I heard the same line with my ex-specialist.

They told me as well that the band they used was the same as the DOC

band, and that the only difference was the Marketing efforts of the

DOC band. They also went on to allude that the DOC band makers were

essentially saying untruths about the helmet helping babies over 1

year of age, and that in their opinion NO ONE could benefit from ANY

product after 8 months or so, and that any correction that one would

see after that point would have happened anyway, there is no evidence

to support any other opinion, etc. etc.

As you know, when their product did not work, we were told it was

because my daughter was just too misshapen and to just stop using the

helmet if we didn't like it. Yesterday she was fitted for her DOC

band, and I was told that based on experience and research her head

will be round in about 2 months, the forhead bossing will decrease

(hopefully disappear) and we expect great improvements on the

asymmetries (hopefully disappear as well.) With the other product we

were told her forehead would not correct, there is nothing we can do

about her asymmetries, and she " will never be round " .

I think you made a great choice! Good luck!!!

, Rhiannon's mom

Good for you for going ahead with your gut feeling - it was right!!!!

>

> Well, I'm making more progress. After our great appointment at

Rehab Designs of America (CT), I left a message with my pediatrician

that I did not want to wait for the specialist to get things going.

I especially felt this way after I called the specialist's nurse to

ask her some questions and as soon as she caught wind that I had

brought Grant in for an evaluation at CT she seemed offended and put

off. She said, " Well, we don't use the DOC band. We use a better

product " about 5 times...pretty much in response to everything I said

at that point. Ugh...I don't want this to be a brand competition...I

just want to get my son taken care of ASAP. Anyway, I left the

message with the ped asking if he could go ahead and order the tests

to rule out Cranio and then consider writing the rx for the DOC

band. I also told him I would still be glad to take Grant to the

specialist appt in a few weeks, but I really wanted to start

SOMETHING now. Grant's head is growing FAST. It measured 47

centimeters at CT yesterday (95 percentile!) and Bob at CT said that

there are actually some orthotists that won't treat a skull once it

measures 48+, because they assume the skull growth will be

substantially slower from there on. But, we are hoping that since

Grant's head has always measured large that it will continue along

that growth rate. We are hoping. But, I just want to get things

moving and not miss any more significant growth spurts. It

frustrates me thinking how MUCH it has grown since we started asking,

asking, asking our pediatrician about this. ANYWAY I got a call

from a nurse at my ped's office today telling me to take Grant to

Children's Mercy for a 'skull series' ? (CAT Skan? MRI? I'm not

sure?) TOMORROW?! I asked her if he'd write the rx after the tests

if they looked fine and she said she thought he was willing to go

that route, but we'd talk with him after the tests come back.

Halleluhah Question: Would it be a mistake for me to call my

health insurance company and ask what their coverage is on DOC band

therapy or should I wait and let CT do it if we go that route? I'm

curious to know what we're in for, financially.

>

> Thanks!

>

> , Mom to Grant (born 9/26/01)

>

> ---------------------------------

>

May 21, 2002

:

WHOA, there's NO stopping you is there?? Way to go! I'm so happy

that your ped. got the ball rolling so fast for you & Grant. Good

luck with the skull series tests tomorrow (I'm not sure what that

means either). I had to laugh at the " better product " comment you

got from the other office! Hehe....geesh! Tough crowd isn't it? LOL.

What insurance do you have? I called my ins. ahead of time to know

where we'd be with their decision. It can't hurt to call to find

out. Definitely document the names & times of who you talk to.

Good luck with the tests tomorrow. We look forward to hearing the

results.

Debbie Abby's mom DOCgrad

MI