We need more distractor!

We sent more photos to Dr. Taylor this morning. From the photos below, you can see that we are starting to make some progress!

Here's a longer-range comparison, where the gradual change is more noticeable.

And just for fun, here's a comparison of Leah's face. The change in the symmetry of her face is kind of unbelievable in this collage. I admit that in the "before" photo, her head is a little bit tilted forward, so perhaps the asymmetry of her face is a little over-emphasized, but still...that's pretty remarkable! I have to admit that this photo alone is making me feel better!

So, the issue is that we are running out of distractor. See photo below for illustration:

When we emailed Dr. Taylor today, he said that Leah's forehead still isn't as advanced as he would like it, so we will keep turning. He did say that we will get as much out of the distractor as we can, and then perhaps we will deal with the rest of the forehead "down the road," which is obviously not what I want to hear. That could mean either a positioning helmet, or CVR (cranial remodeling) surgery later. We are hoping to avoid either of those, so we will just continue to hope that the forehead comes forward very, very quickly. There is no extension that we can add to the distractor, so when we run out, that's it. I am guessing that we will run out in a day or two, but David thinks we have more length than that, and Dr. Taylor seems to think so as well. He did say that we shouldn't dive under the skin in order to turn the distractor, which is a great relief. If we get to the point where it is going under the skin, he may ask us to get an extra mm or so out of that last turn, but I would email another round of photos to him before we get to that point, just to make sure we are still turning correctly.

On the bright side, he did say that her orbital morphology is fantastic, and that it's much better than he would have anticipated had we chosen the traditional treatment (CVR). That's fabulous news, of course, but we can see that a little bit each day, as her eyes align and her nose straightens. It's interesting to go to her crib each morning when she wakes up, since she looks just a little bit different each day. Of course, babies grow quickly, and that's true of all babies, but especially striking when the changes are happening with the help of a distractor!