Bittersweet

DOC BAND REMOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you visualize me jumping for joy as I write????


A BIG thanks to Karen who fitted Tyler for his Doc Band, who was the lady we meet with weekly, who gave me kleenex when tears were running down my face and listened to my many frustrations with the whole process.


Today was a day of tears- happy tears that is! (Get ready for a “Doc Band” chapter in this novel of a post)

A very bittersweet day….. Although I have been waiting for this day to have the band removed ever since Tyler received the Doc band, it was a little disappointing that he did not have better success. I visualized today and dreamt about today for the past three months to get me through the rough patches. It felt like we left the appointment missing something because I can’t remember what life was like without the Doc Band.

Tyler did indeed outgrew the Doc Band which is a good thing, but he only had a 70-80%head growth with the helmet. YES... there was significant change made, but I guess we were hoping for more progress. At this time, it’s recommended that we focus on improving his tortocollis issue intensely right now and hopefully in time the flat spot will fill itself in. Tyler's head has been growing at a steady pace for his dimensions so that is good. We will assess the situation and in a month determine if he will need another Doc Band (fingers crossed he won't). Although we wanted the perfect round head, it’s a reminder again that nothing in this world is perfect.


Thanks to Grandma Ellen for coming to Ty's final appointment to help with the exit photos that we needed to take.. you wouldn't think you need three people, but you do!! The photos were to compare his head shape before and after the Doc Band.

On another note, the botex has officially kicked into his system (his muscle seems more relaxed) and in the next few months we will see if progress has been made. In the last week we have noticed some improvement with his neck, but again not anywhere close to where it should be. It was nice walking out of Karen’s office and having her say that he has made incredible improvements since we first started working with her back in March because I felt like I would always leave her office hearing “he has the worst case of tortocollis ever”.

A few things I've learned along our Doc Band journey: there have been three types of people inquiring about the Doc Band. We had the very understanding and emphatic gentlemen in Starbuck's making my drink asking "oh is that to reshape his head? … my niece had one of those", or the emphatic lady in Kohl's who knew exactly what it was because her baby had one for 6 months and saw the same lady in Mequon and knew exactly what we had been through. The other type of person was your classic Curious George- the Indian man for instance in Panera that stopped my mom and I to inquire what the helmet was all about because they were recommending one for his baby. Needless to say we got quite a lesson on healthcare in India. Or was it the inquistive little boy at PT that would ask "What is on his head?" Or the little girl at Kenosha outlets that starred as she walked by and continued to walk with her head turned back still trying to figure out what it was. The third type of person we stumbled upon on our journey was your the classic rude uneducated soul that clearly didn't think before they spoke. I recall the older gentlemen at a rummage sale that came up to me in a rude tone of voice to ask: "What is on your kid's head?" or the lady in JC Penny glarring at Tyler and said the same thing and walked off into her perfect world. Amongst all these comments I always seemed to have a different answer. What I really wanted to say and it never came to me off guard was "my son has to wear a helmet because he likes to run into the walls". Those looks of shock would have been priceless :)

God bless their hearts for being emphatic, for being curious and even un-educated. The Doc Band has definitely been a source of conversations. After all, what else is there to talk about now.


For all that we have been through regarding the Doc Band, we received a fine "state of the art" souvenir to take home. It's the mold of his head before he received the helmet. What ever shall we do with this fine piece of art? Place it on our mantel? Or we can wait until Tyler starts playing sports and kick it around like a soccer ball:)



Doc Band removed- check... Now once we get the hip brace removed, he will start to feel like a normal baby if there is anything such thing as normal :)

The top three things I will NOT miss about the DOC band: cleaning it everyday, the gawks of curiosity everywhere we go...... and drum roll please...... kissing my little baby's forehead only to kiss a piece of $3,000 plastic! Believe it or not, there is one thing I will miss: Tyler got so use to wearing the Doc Band that if he hit his head on something it was no big deal, now he really needs to get use to playing a little less rough as when he hits his head on bare skin, it's going to hurt.

A shout out to all the Doc band babies out there, you have a special place in my heart :)