Re: Re: 's latest scan [1 Attachment]

[Guest guest]

Thanks everybody for looking at the scans!   I feel a little bit better

now that people say his scans look good.  This whole head thing has

been too traumatic.  Before this I paid no attention to head shapes,

and now I examine everybody's head.

My husband talked with our ortho.  I don't have all the details, but

here is the secondhand account.  Sounds like he is open to keeping

in the helmet for a while.  He made a joke that at the rate is

growing, he can keep wearing the helmet until he is 3.  He thinks

is still improving, but very slowly.  He says the material on the

helmet will hold up awhile.  They sometimes make a second helmet if the

head shape has changed much, but 's hasn't changed enough that a

new helmet would do any better.  The helmet is designed to restrict

growth on the right side of the forehead, and there is nothing more he

can do for that.  He said 's forehead asymmetries are mild enough

that they could actually even out on their own as the pediatricians

claim.  So, looks like we keep the helmet on and keep waiting and

watching.

I'm still not sure that partially what I'm seeing on the forehead is

not swelling from the helmet.  That would be good news since then it

wouldn't all be permanent.  It would seem there would be more swelling

on the right since the helmet has more pressure there.  The forehead

bulge was first noted on day 2 of the helmet, so that would support the

swelling theory.  had minor surgery that day (his 1st birthday)

and the intake nurse pointed it out right after we took the helmet off.

I'll talk with my husband about taking back to CT in San Diego

during the holidays if Alyssa will agree to a follow up evaluation.  My

older son would enjoy a vacation there.  In the meantime, will be

in the Starband.

I completely agree that more evidence of the effective of these

alternative treatments would be nice.  One thing I've noticed is that

all of these practitioners have their own individual style.

Thanks again,

Kathy, mom to , 16 months

wrote:

 

and Kathy,

 

,

 

Level 3 refers to the area where the circumferance measurement is

taken. Level five is further up on the head. I've attached 's

scan and there's a reference to the levels on the top right side of the

scan.

 

Kathy and ,

 

I have to agree with that I think 's head looks great.

Okay, I see very small asymmetries at level 5, but I don't really see

anything at all at level 3. Maybe I'm just used to looking for brachy

that I can't spot mild plagio, but his head looks extremely mild to me.

 

 

I've attached 's scan to give you a comparison. It compares

her beginning and ending scans. You can clearly see where there is a

flat area at the back of the head on her scan. It is this flat area

that has been bothering me for the last few months. You can also see

that her head looks a little like a triangle - less so than when we

first started, but it is still there. That's the brachy. It's the flat

spot that I keep hoping will round out a little. It's not even so much

her width because her head is small compared to her peers and so it

doesn't look any wider from the front - it just looks shorter from the

side. To be honest, the only times I really see her problem is either

from the back or top or her head.

 

In terms of how to proceed - what makes you believe that the

helmet is making things worse? Do you believe that the head would

respond better to the other treatments if it was out of the helmet?

Personally, I think I would leave him in it for another couple of

months to see what it does. Then, relook at the decision. I wouldn't

want to miss my opportunity for getting improvement from the band. Now,

if the next scan shows that it definately is getting worse, then I

might take him out. Of course, with no option of a Doc band, you'd be

looking at either asking for another STARband or just trusting in the

alternative treatments alone. One question to ask is why CT felt that

wouldn't be able to get the band right. Do you think that's what

happened with the STARband.

 

As you know, we are doing both CST and chiro for , but if

she were 's age, we'd have her in a band also. I really wish that

there was some concrete evidence of improvement using these other

methods. Actually, our cranial doctor did tell me that there was

research on the effectiveness of CST in addressing both plagio and

brachy so that's why we initially went ahead with that at the same time

as the helmet. She didn't know anything about the chiro.

 

So, I'm thinking that I probably haven't said anything that's

helped, but I thought I'd at least let you know how great his head

looks in the scans. I'm actually quite jealous.

 

       

 

Re: 's latest scan

 

Let me first preface this by saying that I am not an expert on

StarScan reports at all. My son wore 2 DOCBands, so I really don't get

what level 3, level 5, etc is all about. But I have to say that I think

your son's head looks really good. I don't see anything really wrong

with his forehead and I have a very sensitive eye for the forehead.

Just to be perfectly honest, if my son's head looked like yours, I

would be thrilled. He had severe forehead bossing and yet we were told

over and over that it would round out on it's own. It was his forehead

alone (and yet his flat spot was bad too) that prompted me to pursue

banding at the late age of 16-17 months. We saw significant improvement

in his forehead and yet he still has some bossing and I am occasionally

still bothered by it. And his flat spot is still visible to me, though

no one else notices it.

Maybe your son looks different in person, maybe the scan is not showing

his forehead the way you are seeing it, maybe I'm just looking at it

wrong, but I personally don't see the forehead as a problem. And maybe

that's because my son's forehead was so severe (I really don't feel I'm

exaggerating it, you can see his pictures under Jake W. in the Older

Plagio Kids folder). Having said all that, he is your son and not mine.

So you need to do whatever you feel is necessary. This is just one

mom's opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

Jake-3 (DOCBand Grad 9/08)

>

> All,

> I'm attaching 's latest scan (level 3 and level 5). We're

worried about

> the forehead growth, especially on the right side. But, it could

be error

> or swelling. The level 5 scan showed flattening in the back but

that was

> definitely an error, probably his head was pressed against the

scanner.

>

> The brachia index went down, but the asymmetry actually went up at

level 3.

> Any advice or suggestions on how to proceed?

>

> (on behalf of Kathy)

> Parents of (16mo, in Starband 4 mos)

>