2nd DOC Band Worth It?

December 17, 2009

Greetings

My son is almost done with his first DOC band, and we are delighted with the

significant progress has made. It's unbelievable. If we take off his band,

people cannot tell if it is assymetrical. He is thirteen months old and started

his first one early in September, when he was a few days shy of 10 months. It

looks like Cranial Technologies has recommended that we explore the option of

getting a second one. Kaiser covered the first one, but is not covering the

second one. We are debating whether it is worth it. I'm eager to move forward

with the next stage in our lives and be DOC-band free. We are also not sure if

it worth the investment. One of the doctors there said that with the first

band, she strongly recommended it, but with the second band, she said she

recommends it, but it is not an absolute necessity like the first one. So, I'm

really on the fence on this.

I don't want to deprive my son of this medical treatment, especially if it is a

life-long thing, by saving a couple of thousands of dollars now. Yet, if it is

not really necessary, then we could save that money.

What are your thoughts/experience with a second DOC band? Is it worth it?

Best,

a

Mom to 13-month-old Cameron

December 17, 2009

a,

I could have written your post myself just a few months ago. We were in the same boat, though my son was a bit younger. He graduated from his first band at 7 months - outgrew it in 7 weeks. He started at 17mm CVA, with significant ear and facial asymmetry, as well. When he graduated, we were very ready to move on - and decided not to continue with a second band. He was at 10mm CVA at that point. Once we were able to "move on"...I found that I couldn't quite do it. I fretted about where we were stopping for seven weeks. We ultimately decided we were only about halfway "home"...he could stand an additional 7mm or so of correction. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were going to regret not doing what we could while we had the chance. His head looked great compared to where we started but if I left that out of the equation, I realized that there was still plenty of room for improvement. He got his second band just before turning 9 months and we just graduated last week (he's just over 11 months now). He finished at 5mm CVA and 0mm skull base asymmetry and facial asymmetry. We are very, very glad we pressed on even when it was the last thing we wanted to do at the time. He got lots of growth where we needed it, so his shape looks a whole lot different even than where we ended band #1. When we looked at his DSI from the end of band #1, we cringed to think that we almost stopped there. So - for us, there have been no regrets at all. We had to pay for both out of pocket, too...which is a huge expense for us. But even at that, no regrets. We knew we had to do the first one, but on the second one, when there was more of an option to stop or go on, I tried to think about how small $3600 would seem in 10 or 20 years when I looked back on it. I would have hated to let that amount stop us from doing what we needed to do.

I asked myself this question every day when we were between bands: "If he wasn't mine and I saw his head, would I think to myself, 'Oh, that little guy needs a DOC Band!'" (I do this now when I see kids with flat spots.) For me, the answer was yes. And I couldn't stand the thought that he had a DOC Band and still looked like he could use one! That helped me decide what we needed to do.