Lainey graduated from Physical Therapy today!
"What?" you say. "Why was she going to Physcial Therapy?" Well let me tell you: 
Lainey had tortise neck. The proper term is Torticollis but it is hard to say and spell so I just call it her "tortise".
A few months ago i was whining to my good friend that Lainey would only nurse on one side and she suggested to have my doctor look at her for tortise neck. Then Auntie Shelly came to town and we looked at Lainey's head and sure enough, she was Flatty McGee on one side. I just never noticed it because of her hair. WILD I tell you. But when we wet it down there was a definite drop off on her left side.
If I go back and look at her baby picutres her head is most ALWAYS tilted to the left. I just thought she was really bad at holding her head up but it turns out there was a reason for the floppiness!
I made an appointment and sure enough she had the tortise. I actually asked the doctor if we could skip the PT and go straight to the helmet people because
1) A helmet would be really nice when she starts to crawl/walk/fall
2) it would cover up her current hairstyle that gives Donald Trump a run for his money.
We actually refer to her hair as "the Tonald". Please look at the patch she has rubbed off on the back since she acts like a thresher shark whenever she is laying on her back.
My doctor told me helmets were quite pricey and my insurance probably wouldn't cover it. Darn.
Off to Physical Therapy we went.
They measured her head and turned those measurments into a ratio.
Then they used the CVAI (Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index) to see where she was on the scale.
At her first appt she was a 5.3 (somewhere in the moderate range)
We were assigned a myriad of stretches, special holding positions and strengthening exercises and I literally NEVER layed her flat on her back except in the car and when she slept because yes, I am that cheap. Granted I may need back surgery from hefting around that 17 lb tano cat for the last few months.
Her tortise is gone and she is aligned and measured a 1.6 which is well withing the normal range. Hooray!
Now it's just maintenance for the next year. Good job Tano.
Next order of business....a new hairdo.
5 comments:
Wow that was really fast (or I just haven't seen you in forever!!). So happy she's better now :)
I had no idea! Bad friend. I haven't even called in forever apparently. So proud of little tano cat for improving so quickly. Does she look a lot like Dan? And yes, her hair rocks! Can't wait to meet the little babe.
ok i am laughing so hard over here!! not becuase the little gem had to go to PT, which i'm really proud of her for graduating! (and proud of you bc it was probably tough to have her do it), but becuase of the DT pic. Chris always said Luke had DT hair, so we gave him his first hair cut 2 weeks ago, but i have to say that little Lain had Luke beat!! The back of her hair is too funny. love it so much! her and (our) luke must be friends! and btw, she is the CUTEST little thing.
Wow, I really had no idea there was such a thing as tortise neck! I'm glad you caught it early and it was something that could be reversed. She is so cute and so big! We need to get together this summer. We're coming to SD the week of July 4th. Will you guys be around? We want to go to the zoo or wild animal park. I need your expert opinion and advice.
All right so I am a really bad friend I didn't even know you had a baby. Yikes I guess I need to get back in the blogging world. She is sooo sooo cute!!!!
My little man, Sam, has a flat head on one side too. His pediatrician said not to worry about it. He is now 8 months old and still flat. He is never on his back now unless he is sleeping or being changed. Do you know if it will ever have a nice shape again? Poor flatty McGee. Maybe someday his hair will be long enough to cover it :O)
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