"Casting"

Nathan did very well at his appointment. They took some measurements and scanned his head. The measurements showed there was a 3/8" difference in length when measuring from right front to left back and from left front to right back. The practitioner (Buck Toenges) said on a scale of 1 to 10 he would rate Nathans severity at a 6. (10 being the worst he has seen and 5 being the average patient) He said that a lot of times patients under 5 on that scale don't qualify for helmet therapy. He has a preliminary fitting tomorrow morning and next week his helmet will be in. Buck said that Nathan will likely wear it for six months. It is all dependent on our compliance and how well his head responds. We are comfortable with him wearing it as long as needed to allow for the maximum benefit. They say that by 12 months the skull has pretty much taken the shape it will keep so wearing the helmet any longer than that won't really do much.

Looks kind of mean, but Nathan was smiling and babbling the whole time.

They put this stocking over his head before scanning it with a laser. It was a really neat process. The laser scanner reminded me of a super version of a hand held scanner you would see in the grocery store. As he would run the scanner over his head the image would instantly show up on the monitor and the t.v. they has on the wall. After several passes covering all of his head the image was complete.

From here, they will mill the model into a foam shape of Nathans head and make a clear plastic mold of the helmet. At our appointment tomorrow he will see if any adjustments need to be made and then they will send it out for the final product which will arrive about a week after.