Re: Newsday article regarding plagio

January 19, 2001

I was also told that the head starts to harden after 12 months and becomes less easy to mold - doesn't mean it wont, but maybe just not as much progress as quickly.

Laurie

January 19, 2001

Here is the article that you mentioned

Helene

A Father Decides Not to Wait

ED LOWE Basil Palmeri is 11 months old. He was born Feb. 6 and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces. He is the first child of Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Palmeri and his wife, Diane, a former reservations sales trainer for Northwest Airlines. Aware of such dangers as arbitrary as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and following the 1992 and 1994 recommendations in the American Academy of Pediatrics "Back to Sleep" campaign for newborns, the Palmeris, of Seaford, made certain that slept on his back. SIDS statistics favored infants who slept in the supine position. When was 3 months old, his father noticed that the back of the baby's head felt unusually flat. His pediatrician said the condition was quite normal. In its advisory material available on the Internet, the AAP includes assurances that, "There is some suggestion that the incidence of babies developing a flat spot on their occiputs may have increased since the incidence of prone sleeping has decreased." However, the AAP literature continues, "This is almost always a benign condition, which will disappear within several months after the baby has begun to sit up." The flat area on the back of ' head "started getting progressively worse," said Palmeri. "At the fourth month, the pediatricians still said, 'Don't worry about it.' Then after another month my father, Basil Palmeri, said something, like, 'I don't know; I think there's something really wrong here.' "Around the time my son was about 6 1/2 months old, my wife called me, crying, because the pediatrician had advised her to take our son to see a neurologist. By this time, his forehead was protruding. His ears were uneven, and his eyes were sort of bulging. It was like the effect you get when you push in one side of a box: the other sides buckle or bulge. That night, late, it was a Wednesday, my father called me from upstate-Monticello. He was spending the weekend at my brother Basil's cabin. He said, ', I know it's late, but I'm reading an article that says exactly what's wrong with . It's called "plagiocephaly."' It was the first time I'd heard the word. "Thank God for the Internet," Palmeri said. "I spent the entire night on the computer. I found the Yale Craniofacial Center at Yale-New Haven Hospital. The articles quoted the director of the center, Dr. ph Shin, and Thursday morning I called. We were there the next day, Friday, and doctor Shin and another doctor diagnosed my son as having moderate deformational plagiocephaly. He recommended first a CAT scan, to see if there was any damage inside, and he called in a representative of a company that makes the only Food and Drug Administration-approved brace to correct this condition. She happens to visit the Yale Center every Friday, so we were pretty lucky. "They said if you don't do this correction therapy before the child is 12 months old, it won't work. It will be too late. So, now, our heads are spinning. What do we do? My son was 6 1/2 months old. They said it would take at least a month to get the brace made. It's called a DOC brace, for 'dynamic orthotic cranioplasty.' It's made by Cranial Technologies, and at the time, their only location was in South Carolina. "They started talking about insurance coverage, and I said, 'I can't talk about that. We're going to do what needs to be done.' He said if the CAT scan showed that the skull had fused, would require surgery. If not, then he recommended the DOC. We went back to New York and did the CAT scan-not fused. But his brain was growing diagonally. I'm thinking this could lead to ear trouble, eye trouble, psychological trouble. "We drove to South Carolina for the worst 20 minutes of our lives. I had to hold my son, while they put goo all over his head to make a mold. There were holes for his nostrils and a hole for his Nuk [pacifier]. Otherwise, he was covered, and he was hysterical, and it was my job to keep him subdued. When it was over, I went into the men's room and threw up. We had to go back there three more times before we got the DOC brace. It works on the same principle as braces on your teeth." The brace came off Dec. 28. ' head was determined to be about 85 percent restored by the DOC. At Schneider's Children's Center of Long Island Jewish Hospital, the Palmeris have been seeing Dr. Mark A. Mittler, a pediatric neurologist, who concurred with Shin's diagnosis and who recently told Palmeri and his wife that was intact neurologically, although he has some benign fluid on the brain. "He assured me not to worry about that," Palmeri said. "He gave me all his phone numbers; he looked at my wife and my Dad and me, and he said he was on, 24-7. 'If anything comes up,' he said, 'I am telling you, I am here for you.'" Colleagues in the Nassau DA's office raised funds to help the Palmeris. Diane had to quit her job, and Palmeri, who loves his, now is looking for a job that pays more than the $44,000 he makes working for Nassau County. The Empire Plan refused to cover the $3,000 cost of the DOC, saying, first, that its effectiveness was unproven and, secondly, that its function was cosmetic. Palmeri has appealed that decision. Had he waited for the process to conclude before getting his son the recommended therapy, he still would be waiting, and the 12-month window would be closing, which illustrates precisely how this health insurance business works.

Helenehfischer1735@...mfisher2@...helene_fischer@...

----- Original Message -----

From: amy

Plagiocephalyegroups

Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 1:15 PM

Subject: Newsday article regarding plagio

There was an article in Newsday on Wednesday, January 17th, 2001. Entittled "A Father Decides Not To Wait". By Ed Lowe. Page A08I am sorry that I do not know much about computers and can't find a way to link the info. It is at Newsday.com - look under headlines from January 17th,2001. You will see the above title.I have read about that story so many times on this site.I am just beginning my journey with plagio and I am afraid of what will happen with my insurance. I can not afford to pay for it if the insurance won't cover it.Thank you all for your kind welcome. I am happy to find support. I will probably be an emotional wreck through the rest of this but at least I have somewhere to go for help. Thank you.

January 20, 2001

It was interesting. I thought it was a bit dramatic too. I mean, did he

really throw up afterwards? guess he has one of those babies that never

cries. boy not here. my kid gets just as upset when he doesn't want to nap!

diane

Kendra & Garvey wrote:

> Thanx for posting the article Helene! I was trying to find it earlier.

> I personally thought it was a bit dramatic, but I guess sometimes that's

> how you get a persons attention.

>

> Kendra

>

> Helene Fischer wrote:

>

> > Here is the article that you mentionedHeleneA Father Decides Not to

> > WaitED LOWE

> >

> > Basil Palmeri is 11 months old. He was born Feb. 6 and

> > weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces. He is the first child of Nassau County

> > Assistant District Attorney Palmeri and his wife, Diane, a

> > former reservations sales trainer for Northwest Airlines.

> >

> > Aware of such dangers as arbitrary as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

> > (SIDS), and following the 1992 and 1994 recommendations in the

> > American Academy of Pediatrics " Back to Sleep " campaign for newborns,

> > the Palmeris, of Seaford, made certain that slept on his back.

> > SIDS statistics favored infants who slept in the supine position.

> >

> > When was 3 months old, his father noticed that the back of the

> > baby's head felt unusually flat. His pediatrician said the condition

> > was quite normal. In its advisory material available on the Internet,

> > the AAP includes assurances that, " There is some suggestion that the

> > incidence of babies developing a flat spot on their occiputs may have

> > increased since the incidence of prone sleeping has decreased. "

> > However, the AAP literature continues, " This is almost always a benign

> > condition, which will disappear within several months after the baby

> > has begun to sit up. " The flat area on the back of ' head

> > " started getting progressively worse, " said Palmeri. " At the fourth

> > month, the pediatricians still said, 'Don't worry about it.' Then

> > after another month my father, Basil Palmeri, said something, like, 'I

> > don't know; I think there's something really wrong here.' " Around the

> > time my son was about 6 1/2 months old, my wife called me, crying,

> > because the pediatrician had advised her to take our son to see a

> > neurologist. By this time, his forehead was protruding. His ears were

> > uneven, and his eyes were sort of bulging. It was like the effect you

> > get when you push in one side of a box: the other sides buckle or

> > bulge. That night, late, it was a Wednesday, my father called me from

> > upstate-Monticello. He was spending the weekend at my brother Basil's

> > cabin. He said, ', I know it's late, but I'm reading an article

> > that says exactly what's wrong with . It's called

> > " plagiocephaly. " ' It was the first time I'd heard the word.

> >

> > " Thank God for the Internet, " Palmeri said. " I spent the entire night

> > on the computer. I found the Yale Craniofacial Center at Yale-New

> > Haven Hospital.

> >

> > The articles quoted the director of the center, Dr. ph Shin, and

> > Thursday morning I called. We were there the next day, Friday, and

> > doctor Shin and another doctor diagnosed my son as having moderate

> > deformational plagiocephaly.

> >

> > He recommended first a CAT scan, to see if there was any damage

> > inside, and he called in a representative of a company that makes the

> > only Food and Drug Administration-approved brace to correct this

> > condition. She happens to visit the Yale Center every Friday, so we

> > were pretty lucky.

> >

> > " They said if you don't do this correction therapy before the child is

> > 12 months old, it won't work. It will be too late. So, now, our heads

> > are spinning. What do we do? My son was 6 1/2 months old. They said it

> > would take at least a month to get the brace made. It's called a DOC

> > brace, for 'dynamic orthotic cranioplasty.' It's made by Cranial

> > Technologies, and at the time, their only location was in South

> > Carolina.

> >

> > " They started talking about insurance coverage, and I said, 'I can't

> > talk about that. We're going to do what needs to be done.' He said if

> > the CAT scan showed that the skull had fused, would require

> > surgery. If not, then he recommended the DOC. We went back to New York

> > and did the CAT scan-not fused.

> >

> > But his brain was growing diagonally. I'm thinking this could lead to

> > ear trouble, eye trouble, psychological trouble.

> >

> > " We drove to South Carolina for the worst 20 minutes of our lives. I

> > had to hold my son, while they put goo all over his head to make a

> > mold. There were holes for his nostrils and a hole for his Nuk

> > [pacifier]. Otherwise, he was covered, and he was hysterical, and it

> > was my job to keep him subdued. When it was over, I went into the

> > men's room and threw up. We had to go back there three more times

> > before we got the DOC brace. It works on the same principle as braces

> > on your teeth. " The brace came off Dec. 28. ' head was

> > determined to be about 85 percent restored by the DOC. At Schneider's

> > Children's Center of Long Island Jewish Hospital, the Palmeris have

> > been seeing Dr. Mark A. Mittler, a pediatric neurologist, who

> > concurred with Shin's diagnosis and who recently told Palmeri and his

> > wife that was intact neurologically, although he has some

> > benign fluid on the brain. " He assured me not to worry about that, "

> > Palmeri said. " He gave me all his phone numbers; he looked at my wife

> > and my Dad and me, and he said he was on, 24-7. 'If anything comes

> > up,' he said, 'I am telling you, I am here for you.' " Colleagues in

> > the Nassau DA's office raised funds to help the Palmeris.

> >

> > Diane had to quit her job, and Palmeri, who loves his, now is looking

> > for a job that pays more than the $44,000 he makes working for Nassau

> > County. The Empire Plan refused to cover the $3,000 cost of the DOC,

> > saying, first, that its effectiveness was unproven and, secondly, that

> > its function was cosmetic.

> >

> > Palmeri has appealed that decision. Had he waited for the process to

> > conclude before getting his son the recommended therapy, he still

> > would be waiting, and the 12-month window would be closing, which

> > illustrates precisely how this health insurance business works.Helene

> > hfischer1735@...

> > mfisher2@...

> > helene_fischer@...

> >

> > ----- Original Message -----

> > From: amy

> > Plagiocephalyegroups

> > Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 1:15 PM

> > Subject: Newsday article regarding plagio

> > There was an article in Newsday on Wednesday, January 17th,

> > 2001.

> > Entittled " A Father Decides Not To Wait " . By Ed Lowe. Page

> > A08

> > I am sorry that I do not know much about computers and can't

> > find a

> > way to link the info. It is at Newsday.com - look under

> > headlines

> > from January 17th,2001. You will see the above title.

> > I have read about that story so many times on this site.

> > I am just beginning my journey with plagio and I am afraid

> > of what

> > will happen with my insurance. I can not afford to pay for

> > it if the

> > insurance won't cover it.

> > Thank you all for your kind welcome. I am happy to find

> > support.

> > I will probably be an emotional wreck through the rest of

> > this but at

> > least I have somewhere to go for help. Thank you.

> >

January 20, 2001

I think it was the father that threw up. We just had my grandson casted and

fit with a band in Orlando, FL. They only made a cast of the top of his

head, didn't cover his eyes or the lower part of his face. The cast

hardened in just a few minutes and then the orthotist cut one side and

slipped it off. didn't even cry during the whole procedure. Maybe

my blowing up a rubber glove had something to do with it. is 9

months old and got his band last week. My daughter is gradually increasing

the time he has it on. Most of the time he doesn't seem to mind it unless

he is very tired and cranky.

Helene

hfischer1735@...

mfisher2@...

helene_fischer@...

----- Original Message -----

From: Diane, Nick, & Andy

Plagiocephalyegroups

Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 7:20 PM

Subject: Re: Newsday article regarding plagio