To start, congratulations on getting through 2 surgeries. It is great that the MRI’s show that the brain and spinal cord compression is gone. What is not great is that pain seems to be expanding and increasing in intensity. The same thing happened to me and I found the way back to an even keel difficult.
First off, if the MRI is good, the neurosurgeon is of little help. He does surgery and if there is nothing to see that needs doing, he is off the team.
Second, regular physical therapy is not appropriate for post-Chiari people who are having difficulties. If you are getting massage, joint mobilizations, and standard neck exercises focusing on the planes of movement, it will be too much of a challenge for you.
Thirdly, it is important to note that TISSUES have healed up after three months. When your medical people are talking about things need more time to heal they have no idea what they are talking about. It is just a variation on “rest, and you will see any improvements that you are going to get in the year following surgery”
This is hog-wash!
All my experience, research (the real kind of seeking out knowledgeable qualified people who do scientific research and whom other people in the profession look-up to!), and treatment point to the brain needing assistance in normalized processing of sensory information. I will stop there with my googly-gook. In a nut shell, the brain needs to learn how to work differently as Chiari messed it up.
I had to start with scar management.
This is a post I did on it. Read it through. Start lightly and just a little. If you find that you flare yourself up, rest, but know that you have found something that needs doing. You just have to find the level of challenge suitable for your body.
I did a number of other treatments following the scar management that dealt with my body’s perception of sensory input and how my brain transformed it to pain - plus biomechanical things. I have to go but ask away once you have worked though the incision problem. Not good to do everything at once!