Our Next Step...

On Monday we had a follow up appointment with little man's orthotist, Tim. We knew it would be the day we find out if we need to move forward with getting him a cranial remolding helmet to fix his plagiocephaly. I have to say that even though the process is a bit obtrusive, Cruz has done such a great job and is always so smiley during these appointments or at the very least just inquisitive about what is going on.

First we had to get the nylon fabric over his head and cut out a hole for his face and ears in preparation for the scan.  He was keeping us all entertained during this process...

Cutting face & ear holes

Then Tim adds the scanning device to the top of little man's head and under his chin. We have to keep him still during this process to make sure the scan comes through...once it starts taking a while, Cruz tends to get a bit restless.

Ready to be scanned!

Tim scans his entire head - in the upper right corner of the picture {below} you can see the start of the scan which creates a mold of his face/head on the computer and displays accurate measurements of his asymmetrical head. From here we see how many milimeters his head is off a "normal" symmetrical head - in our case he is 12-13mm, which lands him in the "severe" category.

During the scan - checking out the gun

We then wait until they figure out if they accurately scanned and got the information they needed. We took this time to play "flying baby" with Cruzer to keep him occupied.

We ended up finding out that we will in fact need to order a helmet for our guy. Not only that but for the first month, he will have to wear a cheek pad on his right cheek to keep it as is and allow his left cheek to fill in.  So, prior to placing the order {did we want a design, plain to add our own decals...so many decisions}, I wanted to look into some options I had researched.

We left knowing that Cruz would be getting his cranial helmet in 10 short days....all I know is that I'm going to soak in this helmet-less time with him and give him as many snuggles and kisses on his sweet little head that I can manage. Just knowing that I will only have one hour a day where we can take the helmet off completely breaks my heart.  {Can I also tell you I now despise the word "helmet?" I'm going to have to come up with another word to refer to little man's head cover....and very, very soon.} Please think happy thoughts toward a very quick process!

Always aware of the camera!

Making faces at Daddy