Meet Briar Lane

October 8, 2008

I am new to the group and am looking for support also. My name is

Shandy and I am blessed to be the mother of 4 month old Briar. He was

diagonsed with Torticollis shortly after birth. He has started

physical therapy this week for the Torticollis and sees a Neurosurgeon

next week for his poor little head(and to rule out any other problems

than plagiocephaly). The physical therapist said that he would qualify

for a band/helmet (I guess it has to be over 10 and his difference is

17-not sure what that means). I am thankful that if this is the only

thing that is wrong with him, I consider myself lucky but also feel sad

that anything has to be wrong.

October 8, 2008

Hi Shandy, welcome to the group. My daughter was diagnosed a 4 mo too,

and got her helmet about a month later after visiting a specialist

(cranial facial plastic surgeon) and getting measured for her band. It

is really not as bad as it seems, and babies do very well in bands.

Our doctor also recommends banding above 10 mm of asymmetry. This is

the difference between the two diagonal measurement of the head (left

front to right back, right front to left back). Sort of like if you

draw a big X on the top of his head, the lines of the X will be off by

17 mm.

17 mm is considered severe, but especially since he is young he should

get a lot of correction from a band/helmet. Do you know what kind you

will be getting? the most common kinds are DOCbands from cranial

technologies, STARbands from orthomerica, and Hanger bands from Hanger

orthotics. All are good, but with docbands, CT does only banding, so

their staff is generally very well trained. With other bands (those

mentioned and others) the ortho may do a lot of things besides banding

so their experience level will vary quite a bit. Make sure who ever

you are working with has good experience in treating plagio.

Let us know what happens next, and when your little one gets his band.

-christine

sydney 2.5 yrs starband grad

>

> I am new to the group and am looking for support also. My name is

> Shandy and I am blessed to be the mother of 4 month old Briar. He was

> diagonsed with Torticollis shortly after birth. He has started

> physical therapy this week for the Torticollis and sees a Neurosurgeon

> next week for his poor little head(and to rule out any other problems

> than plagiocephaly). The physical therapist said that he would qualify

> for a band/helmet (I guess it has to be over 10 and his difference is

> 17-not sure what that means). I am thankful that if this is the only

> thing that is wrong with him, I consider myself lucky but also feel sad

> that anything has to be wrong.

>

October 8, 2008

You are ahead of the game because your attitude is so positive, but remember

that you

are also allowed to throw yourself a little pity party. I remember telling my

mom that I was

so sick of hearing everyone tell me that " It could be worse, it could be cancer,

etc. etc. " .

WELL WE KNOW it can be worse, but they are still our babies and we still want

everything

to be comfortable for them.

In the end, it is mostly just one big inconvenience. Taking the helmet on and

off, questions

in the stores, dr. trips, insurance drama. SO it's all okay in the end, but

today it's hard and

I send my good energy out to you guys because I remember that my attitude was

not

nearly as good as yours!