The Beginning

Looking back October 12, 2008 was a bittersweet day. On one hand my beautiful sister is married, that's the sweet part. On the other hand our sweet Xander has his first freak out, and I am the first one to see his hand having a seizure (The bitter part). Back then we called it hand wiggles, its a silly name, but there is nothing silly about it now.

I remember it so vividly, it was a cool and very windy day, the grass was still green and there were still some flowers in the gardens. The wedding had not started yet, and people were running around getting the last minute stuff ready. I was watching Xander as he was walking ahead of me when he turned towards me and screamed in a very panicked state "Daddy my hand!". I could see his face was very concerned and scared, I looked down to his hands and noticed his right hand convulsing in a slow but strong pattern. I could see how his hand was in a somewhat stuck position, his thumb leaned over to his ring finger while his other fingers extended out and his wrist slightly curled down. I had no idea what was going on and in a somewhat desperate attempt to calm him down I shook his hand, I remember thinking he was having some sort of hand/arm cramp, and shaking it would help. I thought it did because no sooner did I stop shaking it than his hand stopped "wiggling", I started rubbing his forearm thinking "Its just a crazy cramp, if I rub it out he'll be OK". And he was fine afterward, even explaining to me what happened.

There was a part of me that was really concerned, and another part that was thinking "It's nothing, don't overreact". The part that was concerned was very overbearing, enough so that I told my sister (The Bride to be) that her ring boy was going to have to leave if he hand another hand wiggling episode. I assume she was preoccupied with "her day" that she wasn't gonna let that bother her. She did ask about him later in the day though. It didn't happen again and the day went on. I had to sing for her wedding and was totally distracted by what had happened, and by the wind.

Later that day I talked to my cousin about it, and he and his wife mentioned that Xander had said something about his hand wiggling earlier in the day. They said that they didn't see anything happening, and assumed it was a muscle twitch. The more I talk about it with my wife Sarah, and my cousin, the less I thought it super serious, and the more I thought it was a crazy muscle spasm. I think that Sarah could tell I was really worried about it and kept saying "It was probably his nerves, he'll be OK Dan"

As the day turned to night, Xander played and danced with cousins, and there were no more episodes. I let myself forget about it, and began to enjoy myself at the reception. Little did we know how much our lives would change from that night on, that would be the first of many seizures, and changes in our lives.