Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

Yesterday was a very tiring day. We started the day by going to Jackson's orthodics doctor in Fayetteville to have his new helmet (cranial band) fitted. For those of you that have asked, the actual condition is called deformational plagiocephaly. Dalton, Jackson and I went (Daddy had to work)...I actually took the camera with me with the intention of getting a few shots of the actual fitting being done, but it just didn't work out. Of course Dalton had questions about everything in the place. When we went in last time, they had "scanned" J's head...basically he sat in my lap, with this sock looking thing over his head (to keep his hair from interfering) and with a sensor that ran up through the back of the sock and stuck out the top of it. (He reminded me of a tella-tubby). So they scan him to get a 3D image which they made a mold from, then made the helmet from that.

The helmet is big to start out with. It shifts over his head and we're constantly readjusting it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So they made the helmet, and we went to have it fitted. Twice they had to take it off and trim areas of the helmet around the ears. We were in the office for about two hours. Jackson actually did pretty well, although he was tired by the time we got done. Funny story...the doctor asked me if I wanted to keep the model they made of Jackson's head, and I said, sure, why not? So it was sitting on the counter. When we were almost done I told Dalton to grab the model of Jackson's head and put it in the diaper bag, and Dalton says "How about we put his body in there, too?" I guess he thought I was talking about Jackson's actual head. :)

The doctor also does prosthetics for missing limbs and such. When we went back to the front, I sent Dalton to play in the lobby while I took care of the bill. (Which is another story for another day...the insurance company has denied the claim, and the office is sending in an appeal, so I only paid a portion of the bill). While Dalton was playing, I heard another person in the lobby with him, but they were behind the door and I did not see her. This is important for another story later!

Then we left and came home. We were home only long enough for both boys to eat and for me to grab a quick something, and then we headed back to Fayetteville for an appt for me. I had tried to find a sitter for the afternoon and couldn't. I also tried to find someone in Fayetteville that would have been home so that we could hang at their house in between appts, but that didn't work out either, so we ended up spending 2 hours driving total.

Anyway, the boys are tired, and here we are sitting the waiting area for my doctor...there's one other lady in the room. And Dalton says, "Hey, there was this lady at Jackson's doctor..." (I think he was referring to the woman in the lobby with him that I didn't see while I was paying...) "...and she was missing a leg and there was a man pushing her in a wheel barrow." Of course I laughed, and the lady in the room with us died laughing too! So I had to explain to him the difference between a wheel chair and a wheel barrow.

They did pretty good during my appt, but they were both tired and a little cranky. And to top it off, I have to go back to Fayetteville before Saturday to have an EKG! Don't worry, all is fine, it's just that my doctor wants to double the dosage of a medication I am taking for my stomach. If you have a heart arrhythmia, and you get on the higher dosage of the meds, it can kill you. But if you don't have a heart arrhythmia, then you're fine. So they are just wanting to make sure my heart is okay before they increase my dosage.

So needless to say, I will not be taking the kids with me! It was actually kind of funny b/c we were standing at the desk checking out, and Dalton is whining, and Jackson has been in his stroller for two hours, and he's starting to melt down, and the nurse calls in the order for the EKG and then looks at me and says "Could you go get the EKG right now?" Hmmm...well, sure, if you're going to keep my cranky kids! What a dumb question!

Anyway, Jackson's helmet is big to begin with. Basically as he grows into it, it will slowly reshape his skull. Since it's big right now, we're constantly shifting it to keep it from rubbing his ear or falling over his eyes. He actually doesn't even care that it's on. I've only caught him a couple times trying to take it off. Yesterday he wore it for three hours (split up over the day) and today he wore it for six hours. Tomorrow we're supposed to do eight hours (and this will be the first day he'll wear it through his nap). The next day will be 12 hours, then 16 hours, then 18 hours, and then on day seven, he should be at 23 hours a day from here on out. It's made our bedtime routine stink...because we must wash his hair every day now, and he can only have the helmet off for one hour a day after the first week, and during that hour we'll have to get him cleaned up and also clean and disinfect the helmet and dry it.

And the best part is that the helmet makes him so sweaty! He just stinks all the time like sweat now (which they said the excessive sweating should taper off by week 3, but we'll see). Here's a couple pics of him right after we took the helmet off tonight...

And I know you're all just dying to see what he looks like in it, so here it is!! In this one, he was bound and determined to get Peanut's tail!!

"I'm not so sure about this, Mom. Can we take it off?"

From the back...of course Chris made them put a stupid Razorback on it!! I asked if they could upload my rescue's logo, but they couldn't do it. :)

All in all, it was a long day. But I'm pleasantly surprised at how well Jackson is adjusting to it. On average, treatment is about four months. Ours may be shorter since we started so late and his skull may fuse before then, so we'll see!!

I've also occasionally caught Dalton hitting him on the head (with helmet on), and I tell him to stop and he tells me that "it's okay for me to smack him, he has a helmet, he won't get hurt". And Jackson, the goober...if we're in the bathroom or in Dalton's room, and it will only take a minute, I shut the door to keep Jackson out. And Jackson sits outside the door and rams him head into the door over and over!! Now, the few times he's fallen and bonked his head, it's been nice b/c he doesn't cry as he is protected with the helmet. But I'm thinking that after treatment is done, he's going to get a rude awakening when he slams his head into the door and it suddenly hurts!!