Re: Questions about treatment

[Guest guest]

Hi Karyn. My name is Kellie and my son just got his helmet from Children's in Seattle on Thursday, the 17th, his first birthday. Let me first just say that your daughter will greatly benefit from a helmet at six months because she will experience more growth than my son will. But for reasons that will take me probably an hour to explain, we were not able to get the helmet until now.

Anyway, I know what you mean about family and friends not understanding why you're doing what you're doing. I had a little of both, some not thinking there was even a problem, and some making me paranoid. (My 64 year old grandfather told me he was in the Navy with a guy who had a flat head and he couldn't fit into a sailor hat properly!) The best thing to do is just follow your instincts for your child. If you do nothing and her head stays flat, then those same people who doubted you might come back and questioin why you did nothing. I just had to set those people aside and think about what I want my son to say to me when he's older. "Thanks for helping me when you could, mom and dad," or, "Why didn't you do something?"

I assume you saw Darcy King at Children's. Believe me, I thought the same thing, like, who is she to be diagnosing anything with my son? Actually, my son did see a dr there just because Darcy thought one of the sutures was closed and she wanted a dr to look at it. I am not sure how that works, though. I know she is an ARNP for what that is worth! Registered nurse practitioner? At any rate, they are absolutely wonderful up at Children's, and although she took kind of a nonchalant attitude with my son's plagio at first ("He has such a wonderful personality and disposition, even if we don't do anything I don't think anyone will even notice") she has been fine otherwise.

However, I have not been dealing with Children's for too long. Quan on this board, her son graduated from a helmet made at Children's in Seattle. She can probably answer any of your questions better than I, but I will be happy to answer any as I go along the way. I can answer questions about casting, the helmet, stuff like that.

Good luck to you.

Kellie, mom of , helmeted 1/17/02 ( born 1/17/01!)

Tacoma, WA