There are videos of Chiari decompressions on YouTube. The videos may be easier to watch post-op than pre-op. I think that the videos may answer some questions for folks. A picture is worth a thousand words.
I think I am with Becki there. I will wait til afterwards
I literally just watched a couple of videos last week. Just my two cents, I would advise waiting until after surgery to view them, if ever. There was one nice 3 minute or so video that was narrated by a surgeon that made it seem not so scary, but the others...wow.
My family thought I was crazy when a week before my surgery I decided to look it up on YouTube and watch the surgery. I was a little emotional that day after I watched it but it did help and calm me down. I was a little less nervous having an idea what to expect and what exactly they were going to do to me.