Justin's helmet specialist emailed us some before and after pictures, so I thought I'd share (and have it recorded for posterity's sake). Just for some perspective, when we started this whole thing, on a scale of 1-10, the doctor rated him as a 6 for severity of the problem. Now he's at about a 2 - which is well within the normal range.
James and I couldn't believe the difference...we honestly don't remember his head looking like that. I think it was one of those times, as parents, that we were kind of blind to the problem. Obviously, we knew his head wasn't perfectly round, but we couldn't see just how bad it was. It's like with his strawberry hemangioma (big red birthmark) on his arm, you just don't see it after awhile. So anyways, we're glad that our pediatrician made us go through all of this. The difference is pretty amazing, isn't it?
This is what shocked us the most: In the picture on the left, besides how bad his torticollis was (head tilt), look how much shorter the right side of his face was as compared to the left, especially his forehead. Now, we really don't remember it looking like that...but it's normal now!
And, in case you were wondering, this is how they cast his head to make his helmet. As you can see, he hated it (wouldn't you?), and he had to go through it twice because the first helmet wasn't a great fit...poor kid!
To get the cast off of his head, they wait for the plaster to mostly set (it's still a little wet) and then they pop off the front part (where the big plaster ridge is). Then, they take off the back section, and quickly re-assemble it, matching up the purple lines.
As big a pain as all of this was, we're glad that the technology exists so that we were able to fix it.
James and I couldn't believe the difference...we honestly don't remember his head looking like that. I think it was one of those times, as parents, that we were kind of blind to the problem. Obviously, we knew his head wasn't perfectly round, but we couldn't see just how bad it was. It's like with his strawberry hemangioma (big red birthmark) on his arm, you just don't see it after awhile. So anyways, we're glad that our pediatrician made us go through all of this. The difference is pretty amazing, isn't it? This is what shocked us the most: In the picture on the left, besides how bad his torticollis was (head tilt), look how much shorter the right side of his face was as compared to the left, especially his forehead. Now, we really don't remember it looking like that...but it's normal now! And, in case you were wondering, this is how they cast his head to make his helmet. As you can see, he hated it (wouldn't you?), and he had to go through it twice because the first helmet wasn't a great fit...poor kid!To get the cast off of his head, they wait for the plaster to mostly set (it's still a little wet) and then they pop off the front part (where the big plaster ridge is). Then, they take off the back section, and quickly re-assemble it, matching up the purple lines.
As big a pain as all of this was, we're glad that the technology exists so that we were able to fix it.
6 comments:
Thank heavens for technology. However when you see what he had to go through to get the helmet made you wonder when will technology advance enough that they don't have to look so miserable.
Poor guy! I would have been crying to watch him get that plaster done. Yikes. What a difference though.
I'm so thankful that Justin was able to wear his helmet. It's amazing the difference! What a brave little boy (and mom and dad!)
Glad you posted the pictures. I, too, forgot the "before" look. He was always a cutie, now,he'll just be more handsome. Cindy
How interesting! Thanks for sharing the process. Thank goodness for modern technology!
Heather, this was so interesting. It really did make such a big difference to his torticolis (spelling?). And that was fascinating to see how the helmet was made. WOW!
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