new mommy needs advice

[Guest guest]

My son was diagnosied with Plagiocephaly and torticollis. He will

receive his DOC Band on Jan.9th. My husband has BCBS insurance which

does not cover the band. Has anyone had an experience with winning an

appeal or getting insured for this??? After reading blogs from the

Cranial Technolgies website I am relieved in some ways that my husband

and I are having this done now and the pediatrician caught it early(my

son is 3 months old). However I have concerns about what to expect in

the days following the fitting of the band. Will he be able to sleep?

Will his skin break out in a heat rash? I defiantely feel that we are

making the best decision in going through with the procedure although

the medical expense is hard for us being a newly married couple and my

husband recently losing his job. I want to make this as painless as

possible for all of us and be able to decorate it in a fun way. Does

anyone know of any websites that you can get decorating ideas from, or

have suggestions? I appreciate any advice you have for me!

Thank you!

Kim

[Guest guest]

Hi Kim, welcome!!

I agree that you should feel good about having this caught so early--

at three months of age. That is exactly when our ped caught it also

for our son. Now we are less than two weeks from graduating from the

DOC band. It will all be okay .

I had a blast decorating our sons helmet--you can see a photo in

the 'm' folder, under 'Merrick.' I painted the first day that we got

the helmet, and I was so glad that I did--it immediatly looked much

less like durable medical equipment. Painting that first day also

worked well, because of the looser wear schedule those first days.

To get ideas, I looked through the Cranial Technologies calendar--it

is amazing how creative parents are. I copied the helmet decor from

the front page of the 2008 calendar. If you aren't going to CT and

didn't get a calendar, then you can go to their website. I bought

vinal stickers online at stickergiant.com and bought the rest of my

supplies at s. There are great directions in the files on this

board. I basically did three coats of acrylic paint--painted on with

a 1 " synthetic brush, followed by vinyl stickers and topped with two

coats of modge podge painted on with a 1 " foam brush. I do wish that

I would have done one coat of modge podge prior to the stickers, so

that I could have pulled them up during placement without affecting

the paint. I used a blowdryer on low/cool to help the process in

between coats. Every couple weeks I have put another coat of modge

podge on, and the paint job has lasted the entire duration that he

has been in the helmet .

Good luck!!

H.

Merrick--6 months, DOC Band, 11mm plagio, resolved tort

>

> My son was diagnosied with Plagiocephaly and torticollis. He will

> receive his DOC Band on Jan.9th. My husband has BCBS insurance

which

> does not cover the band. Has anyone had an experience with winning

an

> appeal or getting insured for this??? After reading blogs from the

> Cranial Technolgies website I am relieved in some ways that my

husband

> and I are having this done now and the pediatrician caught it early

(my

> son is 3 months old). However I have concerns about what to expect

in

> the days following the fitting of the band. Will he be able to

sleep?

> Will his skin break out in a heat rash? I defiantely feel that we

are

> making the best decision in going through with the procedure

although

> the medical expense is hard for us being a newly married couple and

my

> husband recently losing his job. I want to make this as painless as

> possible for all of us and be able to decorate it in a fun way.

Does

> anyone know of any websites that you can get decorating ideas from,

or

> have suggestions? I appreciate any advice you have for me!

>

> Thank you!

>

> Kim

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your email and suggestion! I will try your decorating idea. How did you correct Merrick's tort?

Thanks

Kim

From: ransomsd <ransomsd@...>Subject: Re: new mommy needs advicePlagiocephaly Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 10:48 PM

Hi Kim, welcome!!I agree that you should feel good about having this caught so early--at three months of age. That is exactly when our ped caught it also for our son. Now we are less than two weeks from graduating from the DOC band. It will all be okay .I had a blast decorating our sons helmet--you can see a photo in the 'm' folder, under 'Merrick.' I painted the first day that we got the helmet, and I was so glad that I did--it immediatly looked much less like durable medical equipment. Painting that first day also worked well, because of the looser wear schedule those first days.To get ideas, I looked through the Cranial Technologies calendar--it is amazing how creative parents are. I copied the helmet decor from the front page of the 2008 calendar. If you aren't going to CT and didn't get a calendar, then you can go to their website. I bought vinal stickers online at

stickergiant. com and bought the rest of my supplies at s. There are great directions in the files on this board. I basically did three coats of acrylic paint--painted on with a 1" synthetic brush, followed by vinyl stickers and topped with two coats of modge podge painted on with a 1" foam brush. I do wish that I would have done one coat of modge podge prior to the stickers, so that I could have pulled them up during placement without affecting the paint. I used a blowdryer on low/cool to help the process in between coats. Every couple weeks I have put another coat of modge podge on, and the paint job has lasted the entire duration that he has been in the helmet . Good luck!! H.Merrick--6 months, DOC Band, 11mm plagio, resolved tort>> My son was diagnosied with Plagiocephaly and torticollis. He will > receive his DOC Band on Jan.9th. My husband has BCBS insurance which > does not cover the band. Has anyone had an experience with winning an > appeal or getting insured for this??? After reading blogs from the > Cranial Technolgies website I am relieved in some ways that my husband > and I are having this done now and the pediatrician caught it early(my > son is 3 months old). However I have concerns about what to expect in > the days following the fitting of the band. Will he be able to sleep? > Will his skin break out in a heat rash? I defiantely feel that we are > making the best decision in going through with the procedure although > the medical expense is hard for us being a newly married couple and my > husband

recently losing his job. I want to make this as painless as > possible for all of us and be able to decorate it in a fun way. Does > anyone know of any websites that you can get decorating ideas from, or > have suggestions? I appreciate any advice you have for me!> > Thank you!> > Kim>

[Guest guest]

How long has your son had the band on, and been seeing the pt? Is your son rolling over or crawling yet, if so has it help with his tort?

thanks

kim

From: ransomsd <ransomsd@...>Subject: Re: new mommy needs advicePlagiocephaly Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009, 9:13 PM

Hi Kim--We did two different stretches--one turning his head and one ear to shoulder. We did three sets of each five times per day and it worked. We would go into PT for assessments, but since we were being successful with the treatment at home, we didn't have to go to PT regularly. After a month of the stretches, we were told that we should work on symatry and stop the stretches except to assess to make sure it didn't tighten up again. A month later we went back to PT and they gave us some strength exercises for the muscle, as he still had a minor tilt. We see PT again next week and she thought that at the appt. she should be able to clear us. We were very diligant about the stretches and about having him look both ways. H. > >> > My son was diagnosied with Plagiocephaly and torticollis. He will > > receive his DOC Band on Jan.9th. My husband has BCBS insurance > which > >

does not cover the band. Has anyone had an experience with winning > an > > appeal or getting insured for this??? After reading blogs from the > > Cranial Technolgies website I am relieved in some ways that my > husband > > and I are having this done now and the pediatrician caught it early> (my > > son is 3 months old). However I have concerns about what to expect > in > > the days following the fitting of the band. Will he be able to > sleep? > > Will his skin break out in a heat rash? I defiantely feel that we > are > > making the best decision in going through with the procedure > although > > the medical expense is hard for us being a newly married couple and > my > > husband recently losing his job. I want to make this as painless as > > possible for all of us and be

able to decorate it in a fun way. > Does > > anyone know of any websites that you can get decorating ideas from, > or > > have suggestions? I appreciate any advice you have for me!> > > > Thank you!> > > > Kim> >>

[Guest guest]

thank you. We are scheduled to get the band this Friday and start PT next Monday, so we'll see...

From: ransomsd <ransomsd@...>Subject: Re: new mommy needs advicePlagiocephaly Date: Friday, January 2, 2009, 1:17 PM

Hey Kim--My son got his band when he was 4.5 months, and has been in it about 7-weeks and will graduate next Thursday. When we learned of the plagio at three months, we agressivly worked on tummy time--and he HATED it at first. We could only do about 5 minutes at a time and it usually ended in tears. We gradually moved up the length of time and used rolled up towels under his chest to help him a bit and now he is always on his tummy--he even sleeps that way. He started rolling over just before 4-months. He can sit up on his own for a bit--but still falls over some times and he's not yet crawling but does get up on all four and rock back and forth. All of these things help greatly with the tort. If I understand it correctly it's really a two step process, first is getting that muscle stretched out and loosened and second is streghtening that muscle.We were not referred to PT at three

months, as the pedi and CT thought that we would get through it with the stretches, which we did. But at about 4-months when we went back to the pedi, she wasn't convinced, so she referred us. My take on it is that if there is tort involved, ask for a referrel to PT, because it cant hurt. If it isn't severe enought to warrent rgular PT appts (like Merrick) we still have gotten great advice from them on what to do at home. Also, I wouldn't have known when to stop stretching and move on to the strenghtening work if they wouldn't have told me.Hope this helps!! H. > > >> > > My son was diagnosied with Plagiocephaly and torticollis. He will > > > receive his DOC Band on Jan.9th. My husband has BCBS insurance > > which > > > does not cover the band. Has anyone had an experience with > winning > > an > > > appeal or getting insured for this??? After reading blogs from > the > > > Cranial

Technolgies website I am relieved in some ways that my > > husband > > > and I are having this done now and the pediatrician caught it > early> > (my > > > son is 3 months old). However I have concerns about what to > expect > > in > > > the days following the fitting of the band. Will he be able to > > sleep? > > > Will his skin break out in a heat rash? I defiantely feel that we > > are > > > making the best decision in going through with the procedure > > although > > > the medical expense is hard for us being a newly married couple > and > > my > > > husband recently losing his job. I want to make this as painless > as > > > possible for all of us and be able to decorate it in a fun way. > > Does > > > anyone know of any

websites that you can get decorating ideas > from, > > or > > > have suggestions? I appreciate any advice you have for me!> > > > > > Thank you!> > > > > > Kim> > >> >>