Clinic Results

Finny had his appointment last Friday, we took Nanny along with us too which was really nice. The drive up to Sevenoaks was blissful as Nanny Drove so we weren't all cramped in my little Tigra for once. Finny was a gem, as I hoped he slept most of the way as it was his nap time and he woke just as we drove into the car park. One thing I would say is don't trust google maps!!! We used it to find the clinic when we got out the car and it wanted to take us in the opposite directions...oops!!

So we all arrived at the clinic and shown to a little room. We were seen by Steve and Corrin who were both lovely. They started off asking us about why we had decided to go for the appointment to which we gave a brief explanation of the Finnys history. They then asked us some general questions relating to Finny and his head. Corrine then had a little feel of his head and checked for tightness in his neck - which he still has slightly so she showed us some simple stretches (so much for the Health visitor saying he was too small for any). Corrin then started to take some measurements of Finnys head and she then used this to show us where Finny sat on the chart. He measured 84% CI which measures the flatness to the back of the head, a 'normal' head width in relation to the length is 74% (+ or - 4%). So Finny has only mild flattening to the back. His asymmetry (plagiocephaly) measured 18mm (0 - 4mm being the 'normal') this measures as severe. Looking at both readings together he is in the top half of the Severe category on the chart.

The brown spot shows where Finnys measurements place him on the chart (taken from Technology in Motion Website)

Corrine and Steve advised they would hope to get Finny down into the yellow if not better with Helmet treatment and they said we could go away and have a think about whether we want to go ahead.

However we had already decided if he was more than moderate we would definitely go ahead with treatment, this is about Finnys future not our pockets! We asked a few questions about a number of different things IE success rate which Steve said was 100%. He also advised that if we were to leave it to right itself it would be very unlikely to improve much more especially as he is now over 4 months and we have tried repositioning and osteopathy. So everything seems very positive!! I feel relieved to finally just have some answers. I wonder why the NHS don't even measure babies, it was so simple and quick and no fancy equipment was involved. At least if they did this, it would allow parents to see in numbers if there babies heads are improving and if it continues or slows to halt, like ours seem to do.....

So Finny then had to be photographed. He got to sit in one of these activity, swivel toy centre which he loved (and wanted to eat) with a lovely sock over his head. The pictures where taken and Finny was none the wiser - He just wanted his lunch by then. We got to choose from a number of different helmet designs of course we went for the little cat one. We paid the deposit and booked the fitting for two weeks time!

So now we just need to find the rest of the money. The grandparents have been kind enough to offer some so with the deposit that's almost half the cost taken care of. I'm hoping to look into funding as were on a low income at the moment, but if that doesn't materialise then My trusty Plastic friend will have to come out of hiding!! If anyone has any ideas about fundraising feel free to comment!!

So wow its all go now!!