February 2, 2011

cranial plagiocephaly–a great report!

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Yesterday morning, Kennedy and I headed to STAR for her 6-week follow-up scan.  (Technically, it was closer to 7-weeks, since her appointment got cancelled last week due to the snow.)  I was so excited to find out how much her cranial plagiocephaly has improved, since I can really tell a difference when I look at her head!

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They loaded her up in the STARscanner, and scanned her head.  The report was great!  Kennedy’s head has gone from being 14.3 millimeters off, to only 6 millimeters!  Lisa, our orthotist, told me that the goal they set is only ever to “half” the number of millimeters, so the STARband has really been working – reducing her measurements by more than half!  Any “flatness” measured at 6 mm or below is considered within normal limits, so at this point – Kennedy’s flat head is considered to be corrected!

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The scan above is the one from yesterday.  You can see the inner circle, in red, which is her original scan (14.3 mm.)  The blue line is her current measurements.  The top left quadrant is the front of her forehead – you can see that she has had some growth there.  The bottom right quadrant is the flat spot on the back of her head – she has had some major growth there – so exciting!

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She still needs to wear her helmet for another 5 weeks or so, because her skull plates need time to harden in their new position.  We certainly wouldn’t want her head getting flat again – so we’ll wait out the next few weeks!  My plan is to make sure she wears the helmet at naptimes and at bedtime, and that she keeps it on around the house.  If we go out somewhere, I think we’ll leave it off – so I can indulge myself and put pretty bows and headbands in all that gorgeous hair!  Last night, we went to the mall to take Bennet to the Lego Store and to have dinner – and I took her sans helmet.  She looked so pretty with her little, pink bow in her hair!

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We’re so thankful that Kennedy has had such success with her STARband, and we’re so glad we put her in it.  I didn’t realize how misshapen her head was until I saw some of the “before and after” scans at STAR.  It’s hard to imagine that, in just a few more weeks, Kennedy’s time in her helmet will be a distant memory.  I can’t wait!

3 comments:

WeeMasonMan's Mom said...

Yay!!! That is so awesome that she's made so much progress in such little time!!! Woot woot!!!!

April E. :) said...

YEAH Beanie!!! She is just TOO cute!

Amber said...

That is such great news! We don't get a follow up scan until 8 weeks :( but I swear I'm seeing improvement already. Its exciting to see that it does work!! BTW Kennedy has so much gorgeous hair!

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