Dallas Day 8 and a Helmet Update

Ben and I had a Dallas day today! We met with Dr. Genecov and had a helmet adjustment. It was a busy day, but we had good appointments.

Dr. Genecov opened the door and Ben's face lit up like a Christmas tree! He smiled so big and stretched his arms out to Dr. Genecov- it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! Dr. Genecov held Ben for a minute while his nurse and fellow gushed over him. He is a big hit at their office! (Enough bragging about Ben... I know...)

He said that Ben's head looked great. He was pleased that his fontanels (soft spots) were both still open- which I thought we wanted to be closing up. He said we do not want them to close up too fast or get too hard because they could fuse again. So, Ben's head is doing just what it is supposed to do. I asked him how much longer he wanted Ben in the helmet and he said to keep him in the helmet until he outgrows it, but we do not need to get a second helmet. He was very happy with Ben's results and doesn't want to see him again for six months!

After that, we headed on over to Star Cranial. I was anxious to ask Dwayne how long he thought Ben's helmet would fit him. He said he is a very skilled technician who can make the helmets like Ben's last for a long time (not the news I really wanted to hear). He then went on to say that there is a group of doctors involved in a study, Dr. Genecov being one of them, and Dr. Genecov tends to keep his patients in their helmets longer than the other doctors. The average for the others is 14-18 weeks. Ben has been in his 16 weeks currently.

Dwayne said he is meeting with Dr. Hobar, another surgeon who does the same procedure as Genecov, next week. He said he would ask his opinion about how long he thinks we should keep Ben in his helmet. I was not going to leave there until I got a guess out of him, so he told me probably about another month. This was music to my ears! I was prepared for another three months. I am trying not to get too excited, but it is looking like things are winding down on the helmet therapy front.

We go back in two and a half weeks. We will do another scan and Dwayne will look at everything and call Dr. Genecov to discuss the results. We have another appointment booked for August 10- I am hoping this will be our last helmet appointment!

Going to Dallas wares me out, but it is nice to have Ben to my self all day! We had a fun day together, and I will probably miss the little day trips once they are over. But, I can't wait to have his perfectly round head on display for all to see, without a helmet!

Picture: Ben fell asleep with his book in his mouth while we were taxiing to our gate in Tulsa- not very good timing. But, he did look awfully cute, so that is the picture for this week's post!