Helmet Update

Yesterday afternoon we had an appointment at Trust Orthotics for our third scan to see if Cruz has had any improvement on evening out his little melon. We had our first scan on April 2, 2012, to determine if he would in fact need to get a cranial remolding helmet, and after seeing he was at 12 1/2mm assymmetry (severe category) we ordered Cruz's helmet.

It arrived much sooner than we anticipated...a mere 10 days later Cruz was fitted for his helmet and it was definitely a tough day for us. Fortunately he got used to it and we did as well which made it easier having to put it on him every day.

On May 10th, we went in for our month scan and were excited to see how much his head had improved, but not expecting anything too crazy since our Orthotist told us on average there will maybe be 3mm improvement in a given month and some months none at all. Imagine our surprise when he came in after the scan and told us Cruz's head had improved from 12 1/2mm to 5 1/2mm - 7mm in one short month!

Two weeks later we had to go back in because the helmet was rubbing on Cruzer's head and Tim did another scan since we were there...there was no improvement since our one month scan and that was frustrating for us to hear.

At our appointment yesterday, I have to say I was very optimistic because his head looks so great these days. Tim took one look at little man and couldn't stop exclaiming how much his head has grown (you can tell because so much more of his forehead is visible). We took off the helmet and he continued telling us how great his head looked, it's shaping better and he could tell it had grown tremendously. You can see from the dirt marks (sounds gross, but it's a good thing) in the helmet that it's touching at a lot of points . 

Awaiting the results of his scan

After his scan, we nervously awaited the results. When Tim came back in an exclaimed it was only 1 1/2mm improvement (down to 4mm assymmetry), we were bummed, however, we are excited that there was at least some improvement which gets us closer to our goal of 2mm or less.

Here are shots of his head from our first scan compared to his scan from yesterday.

April 2, 2012 - initial scan

June 25, 2012 - 3rd scan

The improvement has been amazing and it makes us so happy that we made this decision to put Cruz in the helmet, even if it has been difficult for us at times.