Re: Merrick Has Graduated!

[Guest guest]

Hi Lelia

Thanks! We are pleased with our results. I know I was bummed about

that shadow and they took several photos--so I thought of calling to

see if they had one without the shadow, but then I let it go--I can

see it myself in person .

Yep--you are still seeing the tilt--PT thinks it's about 10%. You

don't see it all the time, but he does fall into it from time to time-

-his PT says that he falls into it intermitently. So we are doing

another month of strengthening exercises and then we will go back for

an assessment and hopefully that will be the final piece. We had

hoped to also graduate from that this week, but still a bit more work

to do.

Thanks to you and everyone for your well-wishes!

H.

> >

> > Well here we are, graduation day!! I am so proud of Merrick for

> being

> > such a champ through all of this and helping us to work towards a

> > round little head and resolved tort. It couldn't have been easy—

> > dealing with the stretches, the month of repo, the accelerated

> tummy

> > time and other gross motor work, and of course the helmet. So,

for

> > those who like empirical data…here are our numbers:

> >

> > At four months when we decided to band, Merrick had 11mm cranial

> > vault asymmetry, 5mm mid-face asymmetry and 8 mm skull-base

> > asymmetry. We ended with 3mm Cranial Vault, 2mm Mid-Face and 3mm

> > skull-base….so that means we are Normal Normal Normal!!! For

those

> > who like to go by sight—we are extremely pleased and as soon as

CT

> > emails me the photos, I will post them.

> >

> > A second band was not recommended for us, because we would only

be

> > going for `perfection' and not many of us are, are we ? Also,

as

> we

> > all know, they can't push in anything that has grown out already,

> so

> > there is that grown out side on the left that is what it is.

> >

> > This has been a crazy journey—from when the pediatrician first

> > discovered all of this at 3-months to graduating from the band at

6-

> > months. I have learned a lot—and not just about plagio. I guess

> these

> > things have a way of making us stronger. I learned early on that

> the

> > only thing holding us back from `correcting' the plagio was my

own

> > guilt. Once I let go of that, it was full speed ahead. I see

people

> > arrive on this board every day and I can sense the guilt. My

advice

> > would be to embrace it, but to let it go, guilt doesn't help us

> > heal. We all love our children very much and we would never

> > purposely try to do anything to hurt them. We only hold ourselves

> > and our children back when we live in that space.

> >

> > I have met some amazing friends on this board. I could not have

> > gotten through all of this with sanity if it wasn't for everyone

> > here. The decorating tips helped so much that only one paint job

> was

> > needed over the eight weeks! The stinky head/helmet tips helped

us

> to

> > get through with minimum stink. And the honesty from everyone

> helped

> > me to realize that I wasn't alone in my thoughts. So, a big thank

> you

> > to everyone. I will let you know when I can post pics. And, I

will

> > stick around to try to help anyone who needs it….email any time!

> >

> > One last note—we are so close to `graduating' from PT as well,

> > Merrick has a 10% tilt that he still falls into intermittently,

so

> we

> > are still working on strength exercises…he will get there .

> >

> > H.

> > Merrick—6-months, DOC Band Graduate 1/8/09!!!!!! !

> >

>