Back to our Neurologist today. Taylor had a cranial MRI a couple of weeks ago and Dr. Sarnat went throught the results with us.
He said that it showed good maturation taking place. He also said that there was some improvement in the thickness of the corpus callosum. This was very surprising to us as we were of the understanding back in March that this malformation would not change, that the corpus callosum was thinner that it was supposed to be and always would be. So this is a positive thing for sure. I'd be hooting and hollering if it was the only reason for Taylor's developmental delays, but it's only a contributing factor.
The other contributing factor is the seizure activity. Because Taylor is having so many seizures, the brain just cannot organize itself to allow normal development. Her seizures are myoclonic bordering on infantile spasms, which they say are the worst kind because they are the most difficult to control. They're multi-focal, meaning they come from different parts of the brain. If they were focal, that could make her a candidate for a surgical approach.
The change in the dose of Sabril has not made any impact on the number of seizures, so the next line of treatment being recommended is prednisolone, a steroid. It has many side effects, it suppresses the immune system, increased appetite/weight gain, ulcers, etc. But it can be very effective, so we're going to give it a try. She'll start it right away and we'll cross our fingers that this is the ticket to control.
The last reason behind Taylor's global developmental delay is the 'unknown' factor. Her epilepsy is "idiopathic", a special word basically meaning they have no idea why she has it. In all of Taylor's tests, metabolic workups, muscle biopsy, etc...they have not found anything that they can say is the cause of her epilepsy.
He said that it showed good maturation taking place. He also said that there was some improvement in the thickness of the corpus callosum. This was very surprising to us as we were of the understanding back in March that this malformation would not change, that the corpus callosum was thinner that it was supposed to be and always would be. So this is a positive thing for sure. I'd be hooting and hollering if it was the only reason for Taylor's developmental delays, but it's only a contributing factor.
The other contributing factor is the seizure activity. Because Taylor is having so many seizures, the brain just cannot organize itself to allow normal development. Her seizures are myoclonic bordering on infantile spasms, which they say are the worst kind because they are the most difficult to control. They're multi-focal, meaning they come from different parts of the brain. If they were focal, that could make her a candidate for a surgical approach.
The change in the dose of Sabril has not made any impact on the number of seizures, so the next line of treatment being recommended is prednisolone, a steroid. It has many side effects, it suppresses the immune system, increased appetite/weight gain, ulcers, etc. But it can be very effective, so we're going to give it a try. She'll start it right away and we'll cross our fingers that this is the ticket to control.
The last reason behind Taylor's global developmental delay is the 'unknown' factor. Her epilepsy is "idiopathic", a special word basically meaning they have no idea why she has it. In all of Taylor's tests, metabolic workups, muscle biopsy, etc...they have not found anything that they can say is the cause of her epilepsy.
