We have an appointment to see Dr Holmes, the craniofacial surgeon, at the Royal Children's Hospital. BUT... It is still 5 weeks away! I know it doesn't seem that long in scheme of things, but it feels like forever. It is hard not knowing what is going to happen next, whether Harper will need surgery, if so what kind and when. Luckily I found a forum dedicated to kids with cranio called Cranio Kids, there are plenty of other mums whose children have gone through the same thing and they are more than willing to share their knowledge on cranio and give out helpful advice. It's because of them I have an idea of what to expect.
* First Harper will probably need a CT scan.
* From there the decision will be made if she needs surgery.
* Best case scenario is that her Trigon is mild and she doesn't need surgery at all. In this case we would have to return to the hospital every few months so they could monitor her head and make sure it doesn't get any worse.
* If she does need surgery (I think she will) decide on which surgery:
Most hospitals only do cranial vault remodelling or CVR (a large "open" surgery which requires an incision from ear to ear in which they fully reshape the forhead).
Some hospitals also offer an endoscpoic procedure (a smaller incision is made on the scalp and a strip of bone is removed from the middle of the skull down to the top of the nose, then a helmet is used to reshape the head) I'm not sure if our hospital even offers the endoscopic surgery.
* Timeline- If Harper needs the endoscopic surgery she will need it done before she is 4 months old and would then have a moulding helmet for 3-6 months after. If she needs the CVR they normally do the surgery around 8-9 months old. She is 7 weeks old now.
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