New with lots of questions

[Alexkatieaiden mom]

Aiden was diagnosed with torticollis and plagiocephaly at his 3 month appointment. He was then referred to a physical therapist, who in turn gave me the number to a great ortho. The ortho said that Aiden did need a helmet. So we were waiting to see if insurance would cover a helmet. In the mean time the ortho wanted to get x rays to rule craniosynostosis. The x rays showed that he might have cranio but that was ruled out by a CT scan. So now we are back waiting to see if insurance will cover.
My questions are:
How long did it take to hear from your insurance company?
I am pretty sure that his helmet will come already decorated (from Hanger, picture below) but I was wondering if I could still put his name on the front? If so do I just put stickers on or do I put something over the stickers (like clear finger nail polish) to keep them on?
How long did your child have to wear the helmet, the ortho said a couple of months because he is still very young?
And any other advice would be great.
I am so glad that I found this site. I have learned so much and have gotten so much support.
Below is a pic of Aiden's head.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo177/alexzandersmom/100_0412.jpg Here is the helmet from Hanger's websitehttp://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo177/alexzandersmom/Large_Cranial.jpg

[Sophia's_mom]

Welcome to the wonderful world of helmets. We use Hanger too, but Sophie's helmet is a different design since her's is for Cranio. I know they offer a few different designes and decorations for that type of helmet, but you can still add stickers to jazz it up even more. I've used a combo of clear nail polish and super glue on Sophie's helmet. Trail and error...it depends on the different types of stickers. As for insurance, Hanger called our insurance and was told the helmet would be covered at our normal rate (80%). Then I got an EOB from the insurance saying it wasn't covered. Luckily all it took was one phone call to my insurance and they got it straightened out and it is now being paid. I don't have any experiance with Tort or Plagio so I can't help you with how long he'll be in the helmet. Sophie will be in her's until she's 12 months or her head measurments get where they want them to be.

[ayersjulie]

sorry...no helmet experience here. I just wanted to wish you luck and welcome you to CK :)

[AuburnLocks]

Awww...he's such a cutie!

Our helmet company (cranial technologies) dealt with insurance for us. I think it took about 2 weeks for them to let us know that it would be covered

We used plastic stickers to decorate Patrick's helmet (there are some pictures in my profile). They worked really well and we didn't have to use nail polish or anything. Ours came plain but I don't see why you couldn't use the letter stickers over another design. I think it would look cute. We just changed them every couple of weeks when the started to look a little frayed or dirty. Then we used goo-be-gone from the hardware store to remove any residue after but most of it just came right off with a little water and dish soap (make sure the soap is only on the outside of the helmet. the inside needs to be cleaned with alchohol only, no water or soap. Stay away from the paper backed stickers. They don't last long and are hard to peal off. Use the vinyl/plastic clear backed ones instead and you should be fine.

Patrick wore 2 helmets, starting at about 4.5 months and finished around 10 months. So, about 5.5 months total. He had a huge growth spurt right after starting the first helmet and outgrew it in a little less than 2 months so we had to get a second one. Overall it flew by and I'm so glad we did it. His head is perfect now. The length of time they are in it depends on head growth, age they started and how much correction is needed.

You can see Patrick's before and after pics in my profile if you're interested.

Good luck with everything!

[boxergirldee]

Welocme to CK! My dd,Georgia is 6 months now and has been in her helmet(DOC band) for almost 2 months. She too, has plagiocephaly. She is doing sooo well in it. The people at Crnial Technologies think she'll be finished in about 5 weeks. Our insurance paid for all of the cost. I called them pretty much everyday from the first appointment until I got all my answers. Since Cranial tech is out of network with our ins. we had to pay out of pocket, then we'd be reimbursed. The ins. co said it would take 30-45 bus. days. Well, I had none of that. I called and checked on the status of my claim daily. I even spoke with a supervisor just to be sure I got my answers. The check was her 8 days after she first got it. Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. You've got a whole team behind you to support ya.:grouphug

[Alexkatieaiden mom]

Thank you. I talked to Hanger today, and they are still waiting on the CT scan from Aiden's doc before they can submit the claim to the insurance company. AAAHHH I hate waiting and to hear that they haven't even submitted the claim yet is annoying. I hope I find out by next week.

[celm1]

Linda,

Welcome! For what it's worth, our insurance company did not cover the helmet, so we had to pay for it up front. Since then, I have found a couple of non-profit foundations that help to cover the cost. (They would have likely covered the whole thing if I applied before we got the helmet.) I definitely think it's worth working on while you are waiting for your insurance company. Also, lots of people have had luck with appeals, so that is always an option as well.

The foundations that I found are:

www.firsthandfoundation.com (I worked with Alexis. They are AMAZING!!!)

www.dcrf.com (I am still working on the application for this one. It's not hard, just requires a signature that I don't have yet.)

Anyway, I hope you are able to get the helmet that your little guy needs without too much hassle!!

Celeste

[Zara's mum]

Hi, I'm afraid I don't have experience of any of your questions, but I just wanted to welcome you to craniokids :hugg

[Alexkatieaiden mom]

Thank you. I talked to Hanger again yesterday and was told that Aiden's regular doc still hadn't sent the x rays over so I called the regular doc and got a call back a little while later stating that they had sent them. I then called Hanger back just to be sure and they said they got them. The lady there said that the last time she submitted a claim to this insurance company, that they replied in 2 days so I remain hopeful that I will hear something by early next week. I was also told that they usually approve helmets. So hopefully they will with Aiden too.

[Alexkatieaiden mom]

I got a call today from Hanger that they told me that insurance will cover the helmet. Wow it only took a day. I am so happy right now, I thought I would have to fight with them. Aiden goes in Monday to get scanned and then it should be 3-5 days until he gets his helmet.

[dannlark]

Great news!!! So glad that you didn't have a fight on your hands. Can't wait to see him in him "cool kid" helmet!!!

[ayersjulie]

yay. so glad you didn't have to battle the ins co. that can make a stressful situation even more so. please post some pics of Aiden with his new cool helmet :)

[Alexkatieaiden mom]

Aiden went in to get scanned today. I found out that he is 13 mm off. He will get his helmet next tues. It is going to be baby blue. I was going to get a design on it but decided to go with a plain color so I can decorate it with stickers and change it if I want. Now I know after he gets his helmet I will have so many more questions. Thank you all for taking time to welcome me and answering my questions.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo177/alexzandersmom/100_0533-1.jpg

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo177/alexzandersmom/100_0532-1.jpg

[dannlark]

Looks like he wasn't bothered with that thing on his head at all...fingers crossed that that's an indication of smooth sailing when he gets the real thing. Can't wait to see it all gussied up!!!

[Alexkatieaiden mom]

I can only hope that we have a smooth transition. His ortho suggested I start putting hats on him now (In the house) to get him used of the idea of having something on his head all the time. I think I will give it a try but the last hat I put on him he wiggled his way out of so I doubt it will work.

[Sophia's_mom]

Good luck with the helmet when you first get it. Sophie hated it the first day and screamed and cried the whole time it was on. But the second day she didn't seem to mind it at all. We had a gradual wearing schedule at first and then by the end of 10 days she was in it 23 hours a day. She doesn't mind it at all now and actually seems a little confused when she touches her head and it's not on. Can't wait to see pictures of Aiden in the helmet. Have fun with the stickers!