Thursday, August 09, 2007

A sign from God?

A little disclaimer: I’m not really a believer in signs. God used signs and miracles to confirm the truth of His prophets and His Son while they were on earth, but I don’t believe that He uses them in the truest sense anymore. However, there are times that it seems circumstances will confirm or thwart the plans that God has for His children. So, in that sense, since God is ultimately in control of everything, I guess signs do exist. That’s a theological discussion I’m not really prepared or interested in delving into here, and is really beside the point.
The point is this: we’ve been trying to decide whether or not to take measures to correct Reagan’s rather flat and lop-sided head. Today the answer became very clear.
Here’s the story: As a result of spending a fair amount of time on her back in the orphanage, Reagan’s head did not form properly. The deformity is not horrible and once she has a little more hair it probably won’t be all that noticeable. However, since we have great insurance and medical technology exists which can correct it without pain, we thought we should at least investigate. Well, it turns out that, due to her age, even with this “band” we could expect only about 25% improvement over the next 6 months or so. And when you hear “band” what comes to your mind? When the neurologist was describing it to me, I was imagining maybe a thick rubber band that could be neatly covered with a cute ribbon or such. That’s not exactly the case. See here. Of course, if Reagan’s irregularity was more pronounced, we would learn to live with such a contraption, but I’d certainly prefer not to. Especially since it has to be adjusted every week, the entire Los Angeles area has only one clinic that can do it, and that office is 45 minutes away without traffic. All those “cons” aside, however, we felt it might be worth it in the long run. After all, it’s only 6 months. But today we received a phone call that made it all very clear. The doctor in the Los Angeles office died. If we want to proceed, we must make that weekly trek to San Diego (3 hours +) or Las Vegas (4 hours +). As much as I love my children, I’m just not that dedicated to what is ultimately a cosmetic issue. So, consider the “sign” read, decision made!

1 comment:

Willis said...

Rocco's head is flat on one side, too. Our pediatrician said that it would round out more and continue to do so up to 18-24 months. It will never be perfectly rounded though. At any rate, I pray for his head every time I give him a bath and wash his hair. It has rounded some.

Heather in SC