I try to be optimistic, I really do, but the past few weeks have really sucked, so it’s time for me to vent. Chiari is doing its best to remind me that it will never let go of me, and that I will always be a Chiarian. There have been times I felt worse than at any point prior to the decompression surgery. Not only am I getting good old fashioned Chiari headaches, the numbness in my left arm is back, along with occasional dizzy spells. Those are all things I can handle, what is driving me mad is the new pain in my legs that developed about three or four weeks ago and seems to be getting progressively worse. I can only sit or stand for a few minutes at a time, which is a bummer for a desk jockey. I spend my work day doing the following “exercise”…sitting, then stranding, then walking around my office in the hopes of getting some relief. This is repeated about every 15 minutes throughout the day.
The neurosurgeon initially thought it was a hamstring problem because it was only in my left leg and that’s how it was presenting when I saw him for a follow-up appointment. Then the right leg got in on the act, mostly in my calf. They now think it’s a pinched nerve, due to a possible leak in my patch. So now I’m waiting to see a PT on Tuesday. I hope the PT can help because my commute to work is an exercise in torture. By the time I get to work I can barely get out of the car and up the stairs to my office.
There is however one thing that gives me relief…lying down. So here I am almost 3 months post-op and I still pray that it’s finally 8:00 so I can lie down. After about 10 minutes of lying down the pain goes away, at least until I sit back up…Ugh!
Now that I have vented, you may be thinking that I regret having the surgery done. Not at all, I’m glad I had the surgery done, and I’m proud to be a zipperhead. Besides family and friends; the other thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that all of this is part of the recovery process. Recovery from Chiari decompression is a series of steps. At times it seems like its one step forward and ten steps back so I have to keep reminding myself that total recovery time could be up to a year. When I first started blogging I knew in my heart of hearts that I would be fully recovered and would have kicked Chiari’s ass by the third month. I never counted on Chiari having its own boxing gloves and that it loves to punch you around when it feels like it. The fight continues.
I’m done complaining for today. I’ll let you all know how PT goes.
