An Uncomplicated Life Blog: Mommy Monday: Torticollis Is A Pain

Monday, January 5, 2015

Mommy Monday: Torticollis Is A Pain

In case you want to catch up with Henry's torticollis adventure (adventure?! Sure, why not) I talked about my son's diagnosis here, and then explained that he would need a DOC band (aka helmet). I shared about his awesome DOC band design here.

Ok, are we all caught up? Excellent, here's the update:

Henry is coming along beautifully with the alterations to his head shape! He's been in the band for six weeks now, and if you didn't know there was anything wonky about his head shape, you'd never be able to guess from looking at him. The DOC band has worked wonders.

And the good news is that he's expected to get out of the band in another four to six weeks, competing the average amount of time babies spend in the band (10-12 weeks). Yay! I'll finally be able to kiss his sweet head and touch his growing blond locks. We've been diligent about making him wear it 23 hours a day, and it's paid off.

Henry snoozin' in his DOC Band


His torticollis, on the other hand, is being a tricky bastard to treat. Lil' H's head is remains tilted to one side, and he still favors that side when he sleeps. Now that he's sitting and standing up, it's become very clear that he has little strength in the one side of his neck.

We have seen a ton of improvement in his range of motion, but it's not enough if he's to get his band off in a few weeks. The problem being that if he goes back to sleeping on the one spot on his head, the flatness/mishapen-ness with return. And we didn't pay that much for a helmet to have the flatness return!

See how his head tilts to the side? That's that tricky torticollis.
 

So we're going to have to increase his physical therapy to twice a week. We've already been going for two months, and it looks like we'll be going for another four to six months to get this tricky torticollis worked out of his poor neck. I had no idea that it was so difficult to treat.

Perhaps we just have a severe case of it, but this stuff is a pain in the neck. Literally.


20 comments:

  1. Thank you! They've made a mold of his head and I'm so excited to share before and after pics of what the transition! Thanks lady!

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh my goodness that little boy of yours is just the cutest. here's to some successful PT in the coming months!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! After I publish this I thought, "Jeez, I hope people don't think he's dead in that first pic..." Just snoozin' folks! Your two little ladies are adorbs, too :)

      Delete
  3. I never thought about how much these helmets cost...ugh! I hope the physical therapy pays off as you guys go more! He is such a sweet, sweet boy!! (Where are the heart eye emojis?!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! PT has already done wonders for him, so we'll just keep at it until it's gone. Yeah, those dang helmets are thousands upon thousands... :(

      Delete
  4. It's working! Yay!!
    I know you will get it all worked out, even if it's going to be even MORE work... but in the mean time, you can just post pictures like this every day.... that little head tilt is the absolute CUTEST! *heart eyes* And the bow tieeee.... I'm squealing over here. Excuse me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! Oh my gosh, his head looks SO good! When we compare it to his former shape, I wonder how I didn't realize sooner how messed up it was. I guess when you stare at it everyday, it's harder to notice. Kinda how people wake up "one day" and realize they gained 30 pounds... Wait, did I just compare my baby to a weight gain?! ;)

      Delete
  5. What a challenge. You guys sounds like you're on it though and Henry is lucky to have such caring parents. I never knew it was so hard to treat either, although until I started reading your blog I hadn't heard of the diagnosis. I have my fingers crossed Henry gets the go ahead to take it off in a few weeks and the extra physio works wonders on his neck. Oh and those suspenders!! EEK

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are on it! It wasn't just that he was crammed in my uterus - he was crammed in there breech, so his is a bad case of torticollis. But we're working on getting him right as rain. Or, straight as rain? That doesn't have the same ring to it!

      Delete
  6. Aren't the physical and occupational therapists the most amazing and patient people in the entire world? I share an office space once a week with an amazing group and they are the most dedicated I've ever met! Do they come to your house or do you have to go to them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I honestly want to be Henry's PT's new BFF. We're about the same age and just sit and gab while she works on Henry. If I didn't have to drive an hour and a half for a half our of therapy, I'd be like, "we need three sessions per week!" just to hang with her. Unless you can demonstrate a hardship in getting to the PT's office, you have to go there. I wish she came to us! Every Dallas location had a 3-4 month waiting list, so we drive three cities over. Honestly, the drive time is the only thing that's really challenging about all this! I drive a couple hundred miles per week for all these dang appts all over town... So really, life isn't THAT challenging :)

      Delete
  7. Henry is so adorable, that picture of him snoozing is the cutest! i'm sorry that you have to continue / up the physical therapy - hope it all works out super soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kristen! Not to worry, we'll get this tilty head and tight muscles worked out yet.

      Delete
  8. Glad to hear little man is doing well and is (hopefully) getting that helmet off early! All that extra PT doesn't sound so great but hopefully it will go by quickly. Sounds like you guys are doing an awesome job making sure he gets through this as fast as possible. P.S. He's killing me with those suspenders and that bow tie! =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aren't they adorable?! We went to some boutique-y shop to get a Christmas present for our 9mo old niece, and Kirk ended up going hog wild with all the boy stuff they had there. Those were an impulse buy. But a very good one, if I do say so myself!

      Delete
  9. I'm so glad the helmet is working Paige! PT's are the best people ever! I had PT on my back for a long time and my PT and I became BFFs during that time. They are amazing people! I really hope the extra PT will help sweet little Henry.
    He's so darn cute!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PT's really are good people! On of my BFF's is a PT here in Dallas and has been very helpful with Henry, too. Seriously, this helmet is working wonders! And it's so fast - his head is completely reshaped in just six weeks! Unreal what modern medicine can do.

      Delete
  10. But he looks so freaking cute!! Hopefully PT goes well and really quick!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sending you and your little man lots of good energy! He looks handsome as ever! x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stretching reduces the tightness in your decreasing muscular pain and irritated nerves. This nerve irritation occurs at the top of your neck. This causes typical neck-based headaches or cervicogenic headaches. neck pain

    ReplyDelete