Nick has been banded

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Let me try this again without dropping something on the keyboard.

My baby just got banded yesterday. I was so nervous about it and we put so much thought into whether or not to get one for him. I thought it might be hard for him to hold his head up or delay his development further (Nick had brain surgery at 10 days old and has gross motor delays among other things - he doesn't sit by himself yet and I wondered, even though it is so light weight, if this would hinder him further), plus he is now 13 months old so I wondered if it was worth it even. His neurosurgeon, PT and ped were all on board and his head size is very small, off the charts (which his new neurologist just informed me is microcephaly), so hopefully he still has a long way to grow.

The first thing I did when we left his fitting was take him up to my mom's work to show all the girls there. A few kids in the eye docs waiting room said, look at that cute helmet.

Then I went home and posted pics on facebook.

That night we went out to our favorite restaurant and our favorite server took him around just showing his new digs to the rest of the staff. Today we went to the mall and another restaurant. No one has said a thing, batted an eye, looked funny at him. He's gotten a lot of smiles back since he's such a happy little baby. His 3 older brothers and sister love it and think he looks so cute in it. I really do think he looks cute in it too - I look differently at his little face now with his hair all covered up by the helmet. His little Elvis-chickenhead hair, as I call it, sticks out the top of the band.

He's done very well with it - no probs sleeping or complaining about anything - no personality changes thank goodness. He will probably be in quite a long time so I hope things continue this well. The only time he complains is when the band is coming on or off and I'm doing it - since I don't quite have the hang of it yet and tend to pull an ear or squish his head. Daddy does a good job with it so once we're at 23 hrs I think I'll have the off hour when daddy is home.

We have a starband and got a pattern put on it (fly and drive blue) so the helmet is blue with cars and helicopters. I kinda wish I would have just gotten a color and decorated it myself so that I could change it to match his outfits or holidays -- that would be cute

Insurance denied the band but their policy bulletin specifically states 4-12 months, so we expected it. He fits the qualifications in all other categories, and we have some great letters from the PT, ped and neurosurgeon, so hopefully Aetna will reconsider on appeal.

Two questions:

1. I've been looking at the links and insurance appeals and such - does anyone have any good information on banding of older infants that I can quote in the appeal?

2. I haven't had to get him dressed yet with the helmet on - do clothes go on pretty easily over it, or do you remove it when dressing?

I will try to put his picture in the file later if I can figure out how to and find my camera cord to upload it.

This group has been such a great source of information the past few weeks while we were making our decision - THANKS EVERYONE!!

Angie

- starband 8/7/09

From: Angie Burton <angie.burton@...>Subject: Nick has been bandedPlagiocephaly Date: Sunday, August 9, 2009, 12:06 AM

My baby just got banded yesterday. I was so nervous about it and we put so much thought into whether or not to get one for him. I thought it might be hard for him to hold his head up or delay his development further (Nick had brain surgery at 10 days old and has gross motor delays among other things - he doesn't sit by himself yet and I wondered, even though it is so light weight, if this would hinder him further), plus he is now 13 months old so I wondered if it was worth it even. His neurosurgeon, PT and ped were all on board