Life’s rough. Wear a helmet.

Well, the saga of the Gussydome continues.  We’ve been workin’ Gus out with his PT, varying his sleep position, avoiding laying him down or using carseats, strollers, or carriers, except when needed . . . and none of it worked.  Gussy’s dome is going to need some professional remodeling.

And that’s okay.

After some serious hemming and hawing about whether we were making the right choice, Jamie and I opted to have Gus fitted for the cranial reshaping helmet recommended by his docs.  Nola suggested we save some time and money by outfitting Gus with one of the many potential helmets available right here in our kitchen cabinets.

Despite Dr. Nola’s best efforts, I don’t think we’ll be finding a helmet with the right fit here in our home. So we’re turning to professionals.  I knew that getting a custom made helmet wouldn’t be cheap ($2900! YIKES!), so I was beyond relieved to find out that our insurance is covering the full cost of the helmet (Hooray for meeting our deductible by having a baby early in the year!! We’re gonna celebrate by having some moles removed at 100% coverage! Heck, yeah!!).  So – on Wednesday, we went to the Fairview Prosthetics and Orthodics lab to have a cranial scan and start the helmet fitting process.

The whole experience reminded me of the Matrix.  Gus was being shot at by a supersonic laser. And he was not too happy about it.  Apparently, the alternative is plaster casting of the head which is time consuming and very uncomfortable.  After about a half an hour, we had a 3-D computer image of Guster’s lopsided melon, and we were on our way.  We’ll return next week for the test helmet and the week after that for the final fitting.

It’s taking a little time to get used to the idea that Gussy’s fuzzy little dome is going to be covered by hard plastic for 6 months, but I’ll get there. In the meantime, I’m snuggling up to him and enjoying his apparatus-free noggin before it takes a hiatus!

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