The Exit. . .Sort of

So Mondays are our Cranial Technology appointment days. That's the place Hunter goes to get his DOC band checked. These appointments are really pretty painless. We get there and wait in the waiting room for like 10 minutes (well this used to be the case, but lately we've been lucky to get there on time - the good news is this has actually cut our wait time) and then we're back in the treatment room for maybe 10 more minutes. Hunter's OT, Kristen, looks at his head and shaves some of the inside of the helmet out and we leave.

Last week Kristen tells us that he's about to outgrow his helmet. I guess it's a good thing that his head is keeping up with the rest of his body and growing crazy fast, but I was a little distressed by this news. Obviously Kristen noticed my panicked "How can this be!" expression and started reassuring me that Hunter has done so well with his growth . . and then goes on to tell me that we need to decide if we want another band. (My thought at this moment - his head's grown that well, huh?) So I go home and look at his head like a million times and change my mind everyday throughout this past week about whether we should get another one.

Then, today we went back for his weekly check up and Kristen tells us that he is in fact on the verge of outgrowing it and has 1 week left. I ask a million questions and since my child still has a freakishly shaped head, decide that we will opt for another band. What's another $500 out of our pockets and $2500 out of the stingy insurance company? Right. Good thing I'm working part time. (If the insurance company opts out of paying for this one, you will be reading a very angry post in a couple of days).

So, next week Hunter has his quasi-exit appointment. They all kept calling it an exit appointment, but he'll just be coming back the next week to go through the torturous casting again, so we're not really exiting are we? I am feeling kind of discouraged by the fact that we're already out of the first band and Hunter's head still looks obviously misshapen. I just kept thinking during my appointment today, "Don't be that crazy parent that all of the staff talks bad about when you leave." But I couldn't help freaking out a little. I know I should be totally thankful that my kid breathes on his own and has a nice warm house to live in and a comfy bed to sleep in and plenty of milk to drink, but all I can think is his head is never going to look normal. (Now would be a good time to read my post entitled "Does that make me crazy?" and you'll understand why I'm freaking out so unnecessarily.)

Here are some photos so you can view the progress. Okay, so really this is just so I can view the progress and reassure myself that his head really does look better.

This was taken a couple of days before Hunter got his band.

These 2 were taken tonight. The first one shows how much the back of his head has come out. It really looks pretty normal from this angle. The second one shows how the front of his head still has a pretty big slope to it.

And since this post hasn't had enough of my psycho obsessiveness, here is Hunter with his friend, Jackson, who also weighs less than him (and is older). I'm actually starting to embrace his size, though. Maybe he'll be a linebacker. On second thought, maybe I should hope for a safer sport.

(Okay, blogspot has outsmarted me again. It's not letting me space where I want. Grrrrr.)