Whew!!!

I know I've had some of you worried with my cryptic facebook status entries. I didn't want to go into the details until we saw Marley's neurologist today.

Background: Since Marley's febrile seizure last month she has had at least 3 episodes of facial spasms/twitching. It usually occurs when she is tired and I am feeding her a bottle. She'll squint her eyes, wrinkle her nose and contort her lips. Almost like someone is tickling her face lightly with a feather. It lasts 5-10 seconds and she'll usually whine or cry. It is obvious to me that the movement is involuntary. 

So of course that sent me into a spiraling pit of despair. Seizures are so common with her syndrome I think I assumed we were at the beginning of the end. I felt defeated and I anguished over the possibility that she would have to be on anti-seizure medication and even worse- regress in her development.

Today we saw her neurologist who alleviated my fears. I described the facial twitching in detail and Dr. Jenkins listened intently. She asked me if I could "snap" Marley out of the situation. I told her that during the most recent episode I sat Marley up and she stopped. Dr. Jenkins assured me that this was a good sign. She said a seizure is not truly a seizure if you can snap her out of it. Her thoughts were that the facial twitching was just an unusual side effect of being tired or over-stimulated.

She also did a full evaluation of Marley and commented on her progressive development. She estimated that Marley is about 6 months in development which concurs with the evaluation by her Early Start therapists. Overall, she was very pleased and even said, "I think she's doing great".

I am so relieved! I am still cautious but for now I feel so much better about Marley's condition. On a side note, Marley started clapping today. Another major developmental milestone. Yay!