March 8, 2011

Cranial Plagiocephaly–Saying Goodbye!

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This morning, Kennedy had her 12-week scan done at STAR.  I was so excited to take her, since I was pretty sure this would be the end of our time with the STARband.  Kennedy has been wearing her helmet for three months – quite a long time if you ask me!  I’ve been eager to be completely finished with it and to know that her flat-head problems are fixed!

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We were happy to hear that, in the last 5 weeks, Kennedy has gained another 2 millimeters of head circumference!  This brings her total from being 14 mm “off” to only 4!  We had only hoped to reduce Kennedy’s head-flatness by half, so to make a 10mm gain is very exciting!

Kennedy Final Scan

Above is her final scan.  Her original measurements are in red, and today’s growth is shown in blue.  You can see how much roundness she achieved in the back right and in the top left.  Andrew and I have been commenting lately on how perfectly round her head looks, and this scan shows just how perfect it is!

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After taking lots of “before” and “after” pictures, we were officially finished with our care at STAR.  No more helmet for Beanie!  I’m surprised by so many things in this process – how quickly the time went, how wonderfully the STARband worked, how extremely flat her head was in the beginning!  I’m so glad that we decided to have her fitted with a STARband.  Looking at the before and after graphs and photos is amazing!

Kennedy Head Before

This is Kennedy’s head BEFORE using the STARband.  You can see the almost diagonal appearance of her head.  It is definitely not pretty and round, and the flat spot in the back right is very noticeable!  I can’t believe I couldn’t see it 12 weeks ago when we started this process!

Kennedy Head After

Here is her beautiful, round AFTER graph.  Her head looks perfect, doesn’t it?  When you compare the two, it is astounding how different her head looks! 

Kennedy Before and After

Kennedy Before and After Front

Our wonderful orthotist compiled these before and after photos for me and sent them over.  The first is a top view of her head – which really shows how round her head became as a result of her STARband!  The second is a shot of her face before and after.  The shape of her head was causing her left eye to squint, and you can see how flat the left side of her forehead was.  I find these photos fascinating, as I was really blind to the fact that there was a problem when we started this process!

Our next big item on the agenda is to take Kennedy to get some professional photos done, to celebrate her beautiful, new head shape!  Back in December, we had her dedicated at church.  As her dedication gift, my mom and grandma got her a gift certificate to have photos taken at Sears when she got her helmet off.  I remember thinking our celebratory photos would never happen – that March was so far away.  Time went by so quickly, and I am so happy that we made the decision to go with STAR!

5 comments:

WeeMasonMan's Mom said...

I'm totally tearing up for you guys!

She looks beautiful and 100% PERFECT!! You guys rocked this helmet thing! Congrats!!!!

Unknown said...

OH HOW EXCITING! She is absolutely beautiful! You will have to post the photos you guys get taken!

Laura Everyday Edits said...

How awesome! She is adorable.. Sounds like she needs a new spring outfit!

- Sarah :-) said...

That is AMAZING! Seriously, until you compare the pictures, it doesn't seem like her head was flat at all in the beginning. But not looking at the before and after, it's amazing to think you couldn't see it then, ya know?

She's such a beautiful little girl and I'm thrilled that the STARband worked everything out. Awesome. Just awesome...

And I can't wait to see her professional "post-band" pictures! :-)

Brandy said...

Amazing!! I am so happy for you guys and for Kennedy!

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