I know I have had a syrnix since I had a back injury from a car accident, I went off the road and dropped down 10 - 15 foot embankment) during a snowstorm in early 2009. Anyhow after visiting the hospital very recently I had a full spine MRI and to my surprise the radiologist finally measured my syrnix. The dimensions confuse me and hopefully you can help me out. The printout that the hospital gave me is a little hard to read but doing my best and please correct me if I am wrong.
A small syrnix is noted again at the c6 -c7 level which measures approximately 2 mm AP by 8 mm transverse by 15 mm craniocaudal; this appears unchanged since 1/29/13. What I think is that it is 8mm wide by 15 mm long. I cannot figure out or understand what the 2 mm AP (or whatever the correct version is).
The areas with the bold, underlined and larger text is where I am unsure about the word(s) from the report due to a not so good copy. I would think when one pays for the materials/reports/etc it would be a legible and clean easy to read. OH well that is another story for another day.
Mike
Mike, I’m glad you got the imaging! The craniocaudad measurement is the length, the AP is anterior to posterior measurement, or front to back. So if you imagine the syrinx as a tube shape, it is 15mm long, 8mm wide, and 2mm deep- the AP would be the Measurement from front to back if you were looking down on a cross-section of it and the 8mm would be the left to right. Do you plan to see an NS?
Jenn
Just lost all that I typed in the last 1/2 hour. Anyhow, than you thank you thank you. Chris and I are discussing it. With all of the NSs we have seen, all of them saw it is no big deal. The NS who did the decompression said it was gone on the last annual visit I had with him.
Another problem is that what one of the first NSs I saw before even knowing about CM said the location makes it impossible to shunt. He said it was in the center.middle of my spinal cord and the risks(death, paralysis or either 2 or four limbs, etc) were not worth the surgery.. Ie saw this NS back in 2009 and if I knew what I know now back then I might of had better results with the decompression.
At this point, who knows what the next step is because on Tuesday/Wednesday of next wk we talk to the pain clinic who is now giving me occipital blocks about placing a morphine pump that the last NS recommends since he says surgery is not an option. For clarification I have a ruptured disc that is really pressing some nerves (leading to many more problems) and a fractured vertebrae and fractured tailbone that I sustained on one of my last falls. So the pain level is extremely bad when combining with the CM pain.
Finally I feel like the box of chocolates the Forest Gump; I never know what life is going to give me.
Mike, I know you don’t want another surgery, I get it. I am concerned, though, that your syrinx has not shrunk- this tells me that maybe there is still not enough CSF flow. Perhaps the bony decompression was not enough for your physiology to restore a normal flow. I wonder if you had a more complete decompression the syrinx might shrink on its own without the need for a shunt at all. Have you considered seeing Henderson? The Chiari Institute? I am sorry if my questions are bothersome- because I know you have been there and done that, you’ve been through the three ring circus and come out the other side. It is just in my nature to push for the best result, and God bless the surgeon who tried to help you, but I don’t know that he did. Because our condition is only surgical I tend to want to find another surgical option. I don’t want you to keep picking the gross chocolate from the box- you deserve to feel good and I can’t help but wonder if another Chiari specialist laid eyes on your Mris, they might see a solution. Like I said I know you know, so please forgive me if I have overstepped.
Hugs, jenn
Jenn,
At this point in time I would want the surgery. I have been looking at NS's for awhile now. Not only to review CM but also for my back. No NS will touch me or recommend surgery. Recently I had a NS offer me to get a pain pump instead of evaluating for surgery. I have hit almost all the NS in my immediate area. I do not want to go back to the NS who did my surgery for several reasons. One of these reasons now include lying to me. He told me after my surgery during one of my follow up visits that my syrnix was completely gone. I know it did not just magically appear especially after reading more radiology reports from that past that say a small syrnix is still seen unchanged since last exam or some other notation.
From what the NL's and NS's tell me that the syrnix is located in the middle of the spinal cord and there is no way to shunt it or remove it. I have come to accept the syrnix as found out about it in 2009 after a car accident. I went off of a 10 - 15 foot embankment. I got an MRI and the y found it. What upsets me about the syrnix, is that they are usually found with CM. That NS who told me about the syrnix does decompressions, about 25 a year. So in my opinion that should have sent a large signal of something else is amiss here.
If I could physically, I would try to restart my support group but as I am the leader and no one volunteered to replace me I am stuck.
You did not overstep and bounds. I am the type of person that it takes quite a lot for me to get offended or bothered by much; one of the reasons I love this group is that people are honest and tell it the way it is. That is what I am use to and in a way I kind of expect blunt honest for any and all discussion. I believe that it is the only way to proceed. Many times when we are brutally honest with each other we have a way of putting it nicely and in a non offensive manner so the individual we are talking to remains with us and is not offended.
Sorry I am rambling but that is what is going on and no lines or boundaries were crossed.
Now I am going to try and write a small blog.