Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Rowan's Head

We made a trip to Gillette Children's Clinic today to check on Rowan's head. If you recall, he had significant head growth between his 2 and 4 month appointments, and Dr. Bob our pediatrician had become concerned about the flat spot on Rowan's head. Today at the clinic we learned a few things.

First, it appears that Rowan has Torticollis, which is a shortening or tightening of the neck muscle that runs from the base of the neck to the back of the skull, on his right side. He tends to tilt his head to the right and shows a limited range of motion when looking to the side. He started physical therapy for this today. We did a number of exercises for his neck, which we need to do daily with him at home. He will need to go to Gillette for physical therapy for the next few months, starting with once a week, then going down to every other week, then to once a month, based on progress.

Also, we will be taking Rowan in on Tuesday for a CAT scan. There is a small ridge on the back of his head, and they want to check it to make sure his bones back there haven't fused together too soon. After the CAT scan we will having another clinic visit with the Cranial Facial specialist to talk about the results of the scan, etc.

As for the helmet...she gave us a brochure on it, but said that we can discuss it more with the dr once we get the CAT scan. 

Needless to say Jeff and I weren't thrilled to hear that Rowan will need ongoing therapy, etc, but we are glad that they are catching the problems early so we can treat him as needed!

Rowan didn't mind the excersises where he had to look for the sound, but hated the neck stretches that he will be getting every day for the next few months!

3 comments:

jami thompson said...

Hi Jill,

My girlfriends son had the same thing happen to him. They had him wear the helmet and he's all better now. They actually loved having the helmet on him, especially when he started to walk. :o) I'll pray that Rowan does his best in therapy. :o)

Katie/The Family Chef said...

Hannah almost had to have physical therapy on her neck, too, since she tilted it to the side. It's still up in the air, but she's doing better with it now than she was, due to us feeding her on our other side. (We were only feeding her on the left side since I had stopped nursing.) Glad to know that there is someone else out there I can ask questions to about it!! Rowan is a strong and healthy little boy and we hope that everything turns out just fine!!

Anonymous said...

Hope therapy gets better for him!! It is good that they are catching things early, babies are so resilient!
I will keep you little one in my prayers!