Oh the helmet. What a mission that was – trying to keep Mikaere cool in the helmet was such an ongoing effort. We’d pull it off at the first sign of sweat (because we know an increased temp causes an increase in seizures). We’d spend forever positioning fans and taking off or putting on clothes as he got too cool or too hot. And every time I’d tell myself it’s worth it. The helmet is worth it.
You wouldn’t know it for looking at him, though. He still has a flat spot, and a bit of a ridge. But you guys – my eyes aren’t very good a telling apart a shape with millimetres difference from week to week, but numbers don’t lie. Every few weeks we’d go back and while Kaikai’s head was still growing, there was be a millimetre or two difference. Like I said in that initial post it’s going in the right direction.
Going in the right direction for us is huge. It’s HUGE.
And it’s huge because before Mikaere wasn’t able to turn his head past the ridge he had. But now? Now he can. Now the ridge has been reduced slightly, enough that he doesn’t need as much effort to turn his head. Do you know what this means? It means his muscles were building up evenly on both sides of his neck. It means he figured out he *could* turn the other way, and did, frequently. It meant that he was no longer restricted!
How huge was that?
Even better is this week Mikaere’s fontelle closed. With the closed fontelle the helmet couldn’t do it’s job anymore and we were done. DONE! We went for the final scan and after that – NO MORE HELMET! I’m delighted. No more stinky helmet hair or worrying about an increased temp or sweat or sterilised wipes for cleaning it down. Don’t get me wrong, the helmet was absolutely the right choice for us. For sure. I’m glad we did it. So so glad.
Even better when we got the final report back, the results were staggering. The Cranial Vault Asymmetry measures the left and right diagonals (meaning, front left to back right, and front right to back left) 30 degrees from the centre point. They take the two measurements, and minus one from the other. That difference is the Cranial Vault Asymmetry.
When we went in, the difference was 24mm. When we left, the difference was 14mm. 14mm!!! That’s huge, and there is so clearly an improvement.
I’m still annoyed the NHS told us it was cosmetic only and they don’t treat it – that was not true for us, the cosmetic only part. I wish I’d gotten a second outside-the-NHS opinion earlier. It could have been solved much earlier and maybe Mikaere would have made gains earlier… but if I’m wishing things, I’d also like to wish for a cure for NKH.
Hey ho. We got it in time, we had a good seven month run of helmeting. And now Mikaere has a slightly more rounded head with a smaller ridge that he can turn.
The helmet was excellent for us, I’m glad we did it. But also – high five!! Helmet treatment finished!!
