Therapy Mondays, Part III

Good News: Liam's therapy is going really well!  He holds his head up like a champ these days.  When he is really tired it starts to fall to the side, but other than that he is doing so well.  At his 6 month check up he was at or above all of the normal milestones which helps make me feel better.  He isn't super mobile, but he rolls in each direction, turns in a circle and moves some how.  I am not really sure how he moves because it seems to be whenever I am not looking.  I put him down, go do something really quick, come back and he isn't where I left him.  He is a sneaky one!

Ok News: The plagiocephaly I talked about here  hasn't resolved itself as we were hoping it would.  Because Liam's torticolis is so severe, not only is head misshapen because of positioning, but because his tight muscles are pulling on his cranial bones.  We were hoping and praying that with repositioning and therapy it would correct itself, but recently we feel like we have hit a stopping point.  Things progressed really well for several months, but recently not so much.  We went last week to get an evaluation for a DOC band for him which basically looks like a little boxing helmet.  You can read more about it here.    After meeting with the physical therapist there we have decided that the best thing for him is to proceed with the helmet.    We really feel at peace about this and want to do all we can to help him while he is still young and won't really remember all of this.  Besides, he is going to look stinking cute! He will probably have to wear it for about 4 months which will be right about his 1st birthday.  When we move we will have to drive about 2.5 hours each way to get it adjusted.  I am not really looking forward to that, but at least there is somewhere relatively close that we will be able to go to and since I don't have to work I can go without taking off, etc.

Bad News (potentially):  Before his 6 month check-up his OT, Christine (who is awesome!), suggested that we have some xrays done to check if his spine was curved, so we did.  The dr. called a few days after the appt. and said yes, there was some curvature and referred us to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.  So, we scheduled the appt. and were told that we needed to bring his xrays with us.  We went to the hospital to get them and I was not prepared for what I saw.  There is a severe curve in his spine -  I don't mean like a little hook to the side, I am talking about a full on curve.   Now, part of this could be from the position he was in during the xray, but man oh man on that xray it is bad.  We have no idea what this means or what where we will need to go from here, but our appointment with the specialist is on the 22nd.  I have been able to find a few things about infantile scoliosis online, but I try not to read too much since we don't have an actual diagnosis yet and I don't want to let my mind get ahead of me.

7 months