Re: Dominick's CT appt. about regression

January 12, 2006

Carol,

I am by no means an expert at this, like you, but I think his head

looks good! Like you said we stare at their little heads day in and

day out but based on what you have said everyone see's great

correction with Dominick's head. What a hard choice though...I do

agree. I think the question that someone wrote on the board that

worked for me was... " If their were no changes in his head would you

be happy right now? " Anyways, that's my two cents. I will be

thinking about you and we all know you will make the decision that

is right for both of you.

Kim (Ethan 3.5 mos repo)

>

> As many of you know we have been worrying about a regression of

sorts. Regression is really a word I don't like to use because

Dominick's is not like a true regression it is more growth changes

in a skull with permanent deformity because his plagio was inutero.

You see because of how he was inside my tummy his skull now wants to

grow on an angle, add his severe plagio to that and well lets just

say it's been fun trying to correct,LOL. What we have been seeing

since his graduation in September are growth changes that have made

his headshape look off to me again, especially when I look at Dom

from the back.. I have been in contact with his ot's at ndale

the whole time this has been going on and they have been wonderful.

We had a bit of a wait for the exit headmold to be sent back to

ndale, it seems they kept thinking it was a new headmold in AZ.

I think they just love the fabulous correction they got and wanted

to keep it to show off,LOL. Well finally it arrived and we went in

on Monday. We had more pictures taken and measurements done and then

sat with and to look at, compare the exit mold to and

talk about Dominick's headshape now. I thank them sooo much because

I know I took forever with them and they were still so patient. This

is how I would explain in plain language what is going on now. When

compared to the exit mold we are able to actually see some good

growth changes post banding...yippie. There is some more rounding in

the higher area where he was the worst and the forehead on the

rightside has grown out very nicely. The problem area is lower down

where he has always been the worst, it is lumpy looking and still a

bit sunken in. The hard part is that because he has had some of the

good growth above that, it makes this area look worse to me. Now

please remember that I have spent a year staring at this head,lol,

and honestly without me saying something I'm not sure someone would

pick up on it, but I am a full fledge member of the plagio police

force. This area has always been a problem and it is where the

angling comes into play with his headshape, so there has never been

any garauntees as to how much correction we could get there. It is

actually one of the areas that was in question with doing a band

three. That all said, this is what I am feeling. I am so happy he

has had more rounding, I have always known that Dom will never have

a perfect head, I am amazed at the correction he recieved (I never

thought we would see this much at the beginning), his face is

amazing too (it's perfect), BUTTTTT his ears are still off some, and

this lower lumpy area that I constantly see while running behind him

all day just jump out at me. There is a big part of me that

says, " Where do I get off thinking what if we did another band, when

he has already come so far, am I being petty and looking for

perfection? " and then there is a part of me that says, " Well we had

no garauntees in band three, but it worked and what if a fourth band

works too, they say a fourth would fit pretty much like the third

one? " That damn nagging feeling of this is it!!! The last chance

ever to do anything about it!!!! Of course I also feel like this has

been a long process so far, one I will never ever regret,but " do I

want to do this again? " " Is it worth the money and time and

travel? " " What if it doesn't work? " Now the ot that has treated

Dominick since the beginning, said that she would support me in a

fourth band if that's what I decide. She also said that if I would

walk in off the street with him now that she would consider him mild

and it would be one of those cases that would be left to a parent to

decide. Because this is such a final decision I want to be

completely sure of it so I am thinking about it a few more days. I

will put a link to a picture showing a side view of what the area I

see looks like, so you can all throw your two cents in, it's not a

great picture but it's all I have right now. I will let everyone

know what I ultimately decide.

>

> Dominick's pic

>

> CAROLG

>

January 12, 2006