My son had his appointment today

[Guest guest]

First, I would like to thank all of you who replied to my initial

message. This group and the experiences that come with it are quite

impressive. In the last couple of days I have scrolled the message

archives for hours trying to understand plagiocephaly and develop

some sort of strategic approach...and to find some comfort and

relief. Thank you all!

My son was seen by a neurosurgeon at Kaiser in Sacramento. Within 10

seconds, he said he could see my son had Plagiocephaly. He continued

to explain to me the origin, saying it was a benign condition and

other than a minor cosmetic challenge my son would enjoy a successful

life. He highlighted on positional therapy as a very successful

treatment and would provide some written material on several

techniques. I cannot believe his response. I read the exact response

in this group, word for word.

I let him finish his canned assessment and he asked if I had any

questions. I said, yes.

I asked about helmets and bands and his thoughts. He said there have

been some surprising results, but overall, these devices were high

maintenance and could cause sores and most-likely, disappointing

results.

I told him about all the successes I have read about within this

group and other means, and that I would certainly classify the

results as genuine and very appealing. I continued to articulate that

I have chosen the method of treatment I feel best suits my son and

cranial orthosis is it. He looked at my son's head one more time and

said he would write the referral to Stanford University's Orthosis

department. Kaiser doe's not offer the service directly and contracts

this type of treatment.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I pulled out the list of questions I downloaded from

WWW.plagiocephaly.org, regarding " questions to ask your Doctor " . He

answered most of them but seemed bewildered at my preparation.

I asked him if he conducts CT scans to eliminate the possibility of

craniosynostisis. He was very adimate against exposing my son to the

radiation. He was very confident that his 22 years as a pediatric

neurosurgeon had exposed him to plagiocephaly and he can spot the

characteristics instantly. I accepted his answer and decided to

comply with his non-recommendation.

As for his severity, the doctor said it was mild-moderate, and that

the people at Stanford would give me exact symmetrical misalignments.

Great!

It was very important for me to educate myself ASAP and arm myself

against replies from the medical establishment that align themselves

with insurance costs. If I would have went to the neurosurgeon and

listened to his initial response I would be treating a moderate case

of plagiocephaly with repositioning techniques only.

Thanks again from all of you for your suggestions / support and most

importantly, your personal experiences. I will continue to update

this group and reply to all who answered my posting. I will post my

pictures of my son's head soon.

Thanks,

's Dad,