Gin N' Tonic
Member
Hello everyone, Been a while since I posted here because I was suffering from health issues that were mis-diagnosed so many times. It began a few years ago when I started to feel a numbness in my hands in feet that would come and go. Went to the doctor and was diagnosed with carpel tunnel; Never heard of carpel tunnel causing numbness in the legs but I didn't know any better. Then I started to experience blinding headaches that would last an hour or two and subside, this was diagnosed as chronic migraines and I was given some medicine and it seemed to subside or at least became less severe. about a year ago I began to have trouble breathing at night and I would wake up gasping for breath feeling as if I was about to die so I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and given a cpap machine, funny thing is that it did absolutely nothing to stop the gasping for air at night and the doctors were perplexed. In February of this year I began to notice that I was having trouble swallowing and that when I coughed or sneezed I would get a blinding pain that would begin in the back of my head and radiate around to the front. This would last form 15 seconds to a minute and there were a few times that the pain was so intense that I nearly passed out. Then came the issues with balance and coordination. I would sometimes stumble and nearly fall for no apparent reason and I noticed that my fine motor skills were deteriorating to the point where I could barely tie my shoes. I also noticed that my eyesight was beginning to decline at a very rapid pace and I was becoming very forgetful. Given all of these symptoms my Doctor was finally able to convince my insurance company to allow for an MRI and thew were looking for signs of a brain bleed, lesions or a stroke. It took the Neurologist all of about 15 seconds to tell me that I had a Chiari 1 malformation and it was severe and needed immediate surgery.
Chiari 1 Malformation is where the back portion of the skull is too small and the brain begins to push the cerebellum out of the skull and into the spinal cavity. The pressure on the cerebellum does not let the spinal fluid circulate about the brain and spine properly causing the pain and disruption of your primal functions. I cannot really blame the Doctors because this is a pretty rare condition and can usually only be determined by an MRI. Most of the time it is found by accident while looking for something else such as in my case.
On July 12th I went under the knife and had a portion of the back of my skull removed ans the back of C1 & C2 vertebra removed to alleviate the pressure on the brain. I have to tell you that I was never in so much pain or misery that I was on the 12th & 13th. I could not eat, I could not sleep. Oxycontin and Oxycodone did very little to help with the pain, I just wanted to curl up and die. Finally in the evening of the 13th they decided to try interveinous Tylenol and that must have began to bring down the swelling and I was moved from ICU to a regular room. I had hoped to go home on the 14th thinking I would be much more comfortable at home and at first when the PA visited me to change the dressing he thought it was a good idea but I had to have the approval of the surgeon before I could go home, The surgeon came later in the afternoon just before I was to have the next does of Tylenol and saw that I was in a lot of pain and said I should stay until Friday. I pleaded with him to let me go and asked him to confer with the PA who changed the dressing earlier in the day when the medicines were in full force and he said that he would but really thought I should spent the extra day. I had already proved that I could walk and climb stairs without assistance so I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. He left and I was devastated. Then about 5:30 the patient coordinator came and asked me if I was set to go home. I tole her that the surgeon said he wanted me to stay until Friday but she said that they called and said I could go if I wanted to. Took me all of 5 minutes to get out of that gown, get dressed and I was ready to go.
So far I have been progressing steadily every day, I no longer have pain when I cough or sneeze, My balance and fine motor skills are returning to normal and my eyesight has improved a little. I'm still an old fart so I need to where cheaters to read but it comes with the territory. I have weined myself off of the pain meds and the muscle relaxers because I don't like taking stuff like that (I hate the way it makes me feel).
I don't think I'll be able to turn for quite a while and I'm beginning to remember some promises that I made to members here which I hope to fulfill in the coming weeks.
I had my 1 week post-op last Tuesday and I'm going to have the 18 stitches that were used to close the 8-1/2" gash in the back of my knoggin' removed this Tuesday. So now I've joined the ranks of the "Zipperheads" and I'll wear my scar proudly.
By the way, If you want a picture of the incision with the stitches in I'll be glad to send you one. I think it makes me look pretty tuff
Chiari 1 Malformation is where the back portion of the skull is too small and the brain begins to push the cerebellum out of the skull and into the spinal cavity. The pressure on the cerebellum does not let the spinal fluid circulate about the brain and spine properly causing the pain and disruption of your primal functions. I cannot really blame the Doctors because this is a pretty rare condition and can usually only be determined by an MRI. Most of the time it is found by accident while looking for something else such as in my case.
On July 12th I went under the knife and had a portion of the back of my skull removed ans the back of C1 & C2 vertebra removed to alleviate the pressure on the brain. I have to tell you that I was never in so much pain or misery that I was on the 12th & 13th. I could not eat, I could not sleep. Oxycontin and Oxycodone did very little to help with the pain, I just wanted to curl up and die. Finally in the evening of the 13th they decided to try interveinous Tylenol and that must have began to bring down the swelling and I was moved from ICU to a regular room. I had hoped to go home on the 14th thinking I would be much more comfortable at home and at first when the PA visited me to change the dressing he thought it was a good idea but I had to have the approval of the surgeon before I could go home, The surgeon came later in the afternoon just before I was to have the next does of Tylenol and saw that I was in a lot of pain and said I should stay until Friday. I pleaded with him to let me go and asked him to confer with the PA who changed the dressing earlier in the day when the medicines were in full force and he said that he would but really thought I should spent the extra day. I had already proved that I could walk and climb stairs without assistance so I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. He left and I was devastated. Then about 5:30 the patient coordinator came and asked me if I was set to go home. I tole her that the surgeon said he wanted me to stay until Friday but she said that they called and said I could go if I wanted to. Took me all of 5 minutes to get out of that gown, get dressed and I was ready to go.
So far I have been progressing steadily every day, I no longer have pain when I cough or sneeze, My balance and fine motor skills are returning to normal and my eyesight has improved a little. I'm still an old fart so I need to where cheaters to read but it comes with the territory. I have weined myself off of the pain meds and the muscle relaxers because I don't like taking stuff like that (I hate the way it makes me feel).
I don't think I'll be able to turn for quite a while and I'm beginning to remember some promises that I made to members here which I hope to fulfill in the coming weeks.
I had my 1 week post-op last Tuesday and I'm going to have the 18 stitches that were used to close the 8-1/2" gash in the back of my knoggin' removed this Tuesday. So now I've joined the ranks of the "Zipperheads" and I'll wear my scar proudly.
By the way, If you want a picture of the incision with the stitches in I'll be glad to send you one. I think it makes me look pretty tuff
