I am beyond nervous, i keep thinking about cancelling..is this normal? did any of you think this as well?
I have a pretty straight forward Chiari 1 at 5mm my surgeon believes the surgery will give me complete relief..he is not an expert in Chiari but a well known NS in the area. Dr Lowry in Holland MI if anyone has feedback on him. i do have a call into a couple other "experts" to see if i can get them to look at my records but at this point i know from the pain i am experiencing i dont have any other option other than all these meds they want me to take. the surgeon who told me to go ahead and ride roller coasters that the chiari ws not causing my symptoms but a bulged disc was..i wished i wouldnt have listened my pain has increased 100 fold and i have issues i have never had before..shaking head so disappointed i listened to that man.
My questions are:
I am pretty healthy aside from needing to quit smoking (date set again for Monday)
I am very active or i used to be now i cant work out without being tears...what can i do to strengthen my neck to make sure that i dont have any permanent damage?
What can i expect after surgery to go back to work, i work from home on the computer and i see many of you on here after surgery so how hard is it? i have a headset, wireless mouse, and my tv doubles as a computer monitor with a bed laptop all ready to go for after surgery. I run a very busy business and 2 weeks out isnt an option at any time for me since its a one woman show.
how long after did you travel? i have a trip to Mexico planned June 1st right after my best friends weddng. our insurance gets switched to an even worse policy on this date so pushing the date is not an option.
i have read so many horror stories so to come on here tonight and see a couple good ones was really a huge relief...can any of you who have had surgery give me the run down of what to expect?
Its 7mm not sure why i put 5 probably because i was reading the forums on the people who had 5mm right before i posted this..ugh my brain is seriously scattered with fright right now:)
You’re going to be glad you have gotten this over with,it is a scary thing but it is normal to have some fear.I was excited,at the same time afraid,I’m 5 months out and it is so wonderful to feel better,you are going to see good changes,hold on and keep looking for encouragement here with these great friends.
I just had decompression surgery March 25th. When I decided to have the surgery, I wasn’t scared anymore–I was more scared of not doing anything to fix the problem. Inhas a laundry list of questions for my NS for pre op and Post op. This forum was very helpful in helping me gather additions questions.
I’m also very active; before the surgery I swimming everyday. After my surgery I had migraine headaches and my sculp was sore, tender and sensitive to touch. I was on oxycodone 5mg and muscle relaxers 5mg in whichnimwas taking every 4 hours. At 9 days post op I only took oxycodone once, the 10th day only a tylenol and by the 11th day I was off both medications. I still had minor headaches which were tolerable. At 15 day post op all my headaches were done. Since then I’ve been doing pretty good. This week the weather in MD as been great, so I’ve taken short walks 3 times this week, and yesterday I rode with my mom to a couple of retails stores. I also have full range of turning my neck, but I’m not quite there yes, so I’m not driving yet.
In reference to the pain I had before the surgery–all of my symptoms are not gone yet. At first the numbness in my right foot was complely gone, but now itvcomes and goes. In am concern that all my symptoms are not gone, but I’m going to be patience and pray that they will eventually go away. My NS does want me to contact him within a month to let him know what symposiums still exist and get an MRI.
As for going back to work–I’m ready to go back now, but my doctor said I needed a month to recover and if I needed more time off he would grant me that time. So I’m following doctors orders.
I was also concern about traveling after the surgery. I have two trips plan this summer. I’m flying to the Midwest in June for a wedding, and to Europe in late August for 2 weeks. My NS told me not to cancel my trips that I will be fine flying.
Finally, what I did was read everything I could get my hands on and asked my NS lots of questions. I am still reading abour Chiari Malformation. I also got a 2nd opinion before I made my decision to go ahead with the surgery. This has been my experience thus far, so I hope this helped.