The picture is emerging now.
Lucy had her ultrasound this afternoon. Another painful but necessary examination in order to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of her diagnosis of torticollis. It took a little over twenty minutes and she coped with it surprisingly well - except for one moment where the technician manipulated her head a little to far in an effort to expose her neck causing her to flinch and cry out in pain. Fortunately we were able to settle her fairly quickly there-after but she was pretty hesitant.
A doctor examined the scans as they were being performed and he hung around until they were completed. He put me at ease by explaining what he was seeing.
The upshot of it all was as we expected. The right SCM muscle (the neck muscle running from up behind the jaw down to the collar bone) was thickened and significantly shorter than the left - accounting for the marked tilt Lucy has with her head favoring one side. Thankfully, there was no sign of any lesion or tumor that would account for her deformity, so you can imagine the relief there. Also, the technician took a look at her skull, examining the sutures or joins between the bones. They all appeared normal with no over lapping or deformity which means that, with time and intensive physical therapy, it should correct itself.
I brought her home this afternoon with a mixture of relief and emotion and I lay with her on the lounge room rug while she ate my nose and yanked on my beard.
This has been the first real scary experience we've had as parents with either of our children. And I don't mind saying it has knocked the stuffing out of both my serioso and I.
We're still unsure about how to approach the issue of the pediatrician. That keeps changing from one hour to the next...which probably means we'll end up not doing anything. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but right now, I think I'd rather focus on Lucy and getting her right again. Prolonged anger is just a waste of energy in the end anyway.
We would rather deal in relief right now. Relief that it's just straight up torticollis without there being anything more sinister in play. That was the biggest thing for me. Our emotions have been all over the place and it has made us both extremely tired and a little fragile. Tears have come easily.
The picture fills in and we can go forwards.
DFA.
Lucy had her ultrasound this afternoon. Another painful but necessary examination in order to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of her diagnosis of torticollis. It took a little over twenty minutes and she coped with it surprisingly well - except for one moment where the technician manipulated her head a little to far in an effort to expose her neck causing her to flinch and cry out in pain. Fortunately we were able to settle her fairly quickly there-after but she was pretty hesitant.
A doctor examined the scans as they were being performed and he hung around until they were completed. He put me at ease by explaining what he was seeing.
The upshot of it all was as we expected. The right SCM muscle (the neck muscle running from up behind the jaw down to the collar bone) was thickened and significantly shorter than the left - accounting for the marked tilt Lucy has with her head favoring one side. Thankfully, there was no sign of any lesion or tumor that would account for her deformity, so you can imagine the relief there. Also, the technician took a look at her skull, examining the sutures or joins between the bones. They all appeared normal with no over lapping or deformity which means that, with time and intensive physical therapy, it should correct itself.
I brought her home this afternoon with a mixture of relief and emotion and I lay with her on the lounge room rug while she ate my nose and yanked on my beard.
This has been the first real scary experience we've had as parents with either of our children. And I don't mind saying it has knocked the stuffing out of both my serioso and I.
We're still unsure about how to approach the issue of the pediatrician. That keeps changing from one hour to the next...which probably means we'll end up not doing anything. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but right now, I think I'd rather focus on Lucy and getting her right again. Prolonged anger is just a waste of energy in the end anyway.
We would rather deal in relief right now. Relief that it's just straight up torticollis without there being anything more sinister in play. That was the biggest thing for me. Our emotions have been all over the place and it has made us both extremely tired and a little fragile. Tears have come easily.
The picture fills in and we can go forwards.
DFA.
Tears are good ... a wonderful stress reliever. And so is this news. I'm very happy for you and your family. Here's to moving forward.
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