Cara's Catch All: April 2011

Nick and I had to deal with something really sad the past week or so. We had to put our beloved dog, Morgan, down to sleep. He had been throwing up/having messy poo since August. Our Vet believed it was Irritable Bowel Syndrome. We had tried several different diets and medicine regimens and sometimes they'd work, but then he'd always go back to throwing up/having messy poo. Last Monday Morgan finally stopped eating. I had to trick him to eat with feeding him a peanut butter sandwich that I had pretended I wanted to eat, in order to get him to eat it (our food was always more appetizing to him). I told Nick he needed to take him in before our vacation because I was worried he would die while we were gone. We were going away to CA to visit my grandma, aunts, and cousins for five days. He took him in Tuesday morning and the Vet said he wanted to test Morgan for a tick related disease or Cancer through ultrasound on Friday. I was convinced it must've been a tick related disease because I had had Lyme's disease last June (yes...while pregnant, Saydee thankfully wasn't effected by it). On Friday, we got the news that Morgan had had stomach Cancer and it had spread to his lymph nodes. A vet tech took Morgan home in order to keep him as comfortable as possible while they waited for us to get back. On Monday, April 25th, we had to put Morgan to rest. The Vet said he didn't expect it was Cancer because Morgan was so young. He would have been three in June. He also said the Cancer was very advanced...throughout all of his intestines and lymph nodes. This was a shock to Nick and I because this whole time we had thought he had something curable. Then we basically lost our dog within a week. He was just growing out of the puppy stage too... still so young. He was a people pleaser and lover. He loved to be around his people, which is why...I'm convinced..he stayed around as long as he did. We love you too, doggie.

Saydee was discharged from Physical Therapy yesterday...woohoo! Her Auntie Erin, who is a Dr. of Physical Therapy, noticed she had torticollis when she was about one month old.

What is torticollis? It's when you turn your head to one side or the other. You can be born with this, congenital torticollis, or get it from other things later in life (such as sleeping funny, an infection, or even botox injections), called acquired torticollis. About three percent of babies are born with torticollis. Erin suggests it's probably a lot more common than that and we just don't notice it...or have a PT sister who notices it:)

Saydee was born with a shortened neck muscle on the left side of her neck. That caused her to tilt the top of her head to the left, to avoid the pain of stretching this shorter and tighter muscle.

Erin noticed while playing with Saydee when she was three weeks old that she was fussy when turning her head to the left. Then her suspicion of torticollis was confirmed from looking at photos I had uploaded to Facebook. Saydee's head was tilted to the same side in all of the photos (tilting is normal.. always to the same side is worrisome).

I had noticed something was funny while taking pictures of Saydee. Some of the time she was severely tilted. I thought she just didn't have control of her neck muscles yet. Then, the day before Erin told me about the torticollis, I realized Saydee kept putting her head back in the same position. I had no clue why that was though.

Erin told me some stretches to do with Saydee, told me to make sure to move her head to the left while she's on her back sleeping, have her do tummy time, and not let her sleep on her back during the day. I stopped letting Saydee take naps on her back and started holding her and stretching her head to the left while sleeping on my stomach.

At Saydee's two month appointment I brought it up and the Doctor said it wasn't a concern since the back of Saydee's head wasn't dented (babies with torticollis can develop dents in their heads from constantly moving their head back to their preferred side).

At three months, when Saydee's head was still noticably tilted I began to worry. I didn't want her to end up with a helmet (to correct any denting) if I could help it. I asked for Erin's help for suggestions around the house and went back to the doctor. I asked him for a referral for PT for Saydee.

We started PT and each time I was given "homework" to do with Saydee at home. Our homework was things like to hold Saydee in a way that stretches her neck, do tummy time and hold her toys to the left to have her stretch her neck, and help her to roll over. We started at once a week for the first month. Then once every two weeks. Then once a month. I should add...we also continued to see Saydee's PT Auntie who helped give PT sessions, as well. Now, at six months and a week Saydee is totally torticollis-free! YAY!!!

Time to brag for a moment: Saydee's PT also said she is the most advanced six month old she's ever seen. Saydee can grab at things and put them in her mouth, go back and forth what hand she's holding things in, pull herself up to sitting from laying down, grab things in front of her while sitting, roll over both directions, play on her sides while lying down, and crawl forward a little with her knees and hands!

I hope this post comforts other people who have a suspicion that their baby or a baby they know has torticollis. When I first found out I searched the Internet and all I could find was terrible pictures of babies with torticollis and not really any success stories. I wanted to share my success story.

And BTW I didn't share this sooner because I didn't know how long it would take to correct it (I had read a year) and I didn't want people looking at Saydee differently, or thinking of her as the girl with torticollis.

I'm so proud of myself and Saydee for correcting her head tilt to the point where it's unrecognizable to strangers.

Here are some pictures to show Saydee's progress: