Adios Helmet!

We bid a [not so sad] farewell to the helmet a couple of weeks ago.  It was a tad bittersweet - it was pretty cute decorated like a Georgia football helmet complete with "bones".  Gardner wore it 23 hours a day for 14 1/2 weeks.  His head went from being 13 mm asymmetrical to 8 mm.  It is still not perfect, but it is good enough.  I was willing to keep him in the helmet longer if it meant further improvement, but his progress seemed to have stalled out.  At his appointment in December the technician asked me if I was ready to throw in the towel.  "Of course not!" I replied.  Then when we went back in January, I had high hopes that we would be even closer to our goal of 6 mm.  When the scan showed absolutely no improvement and his head grew a minuscule amount, I was ready to rethink my answer.  His forehead is now completely perfect (it used to stick out further on one side) but the back of his head is a little flat.  I think once he gets more hair, it will be impossible to tell.  In fact, I am probably the only one who actually can tell.  The technician also told me that if he were a new patient being evaluated at his age and with his level of asymmetry, he would not get a helmet.  That made me feel better about the decision to stop wearing it.  I love being able to rub my cheeks on his soft fuzzy head and I am very glad I don't have to worry about being bonked in the face by that helmet ever again!

Gardner's first week in the helmet

Wearing the helmet...and nothing else

Helmet-less and happy!