Well there was some waiting and waiting. But we finally went in the exam room - you know they actually had two tuning forks in the room - I thought that was cool. Deb took my vitals and told us that Nancy, the nurse would be next followed by Dr. T and possibly a resident. I saw diagrams of the brain as well as a model of the brain and the upper and lower spine.
The nurse comes in and I have to rehash everything, then yes folks I get to rehash it all again when the Dr. comes in. Rehashing things that started in May, when I didn't realize that I would need to remember in August, is becoming harder. "No I wasn't in an accident, on a roller coaster, didn't fall down, or anything that stands out as different the days before my headaches started. Now, I'm not saying that one of my two younger ones couldn't have done something - but if they did it wasn't different than any other day with them." I explain.
So I now know that my symptoms are related to the Chiari Malformation that I have, which is a question that I had. And I won't keep you in suspense - no surgery right now - we are going to observe my symptoms for 3 months and I will become more active with the hope that my symptoms may subside.
My husband and I walked away with conflicting information: my neurologist says migraines and a preventive at the right level will help, the neurosurgeon says pretty much I may have no relief from headaches no matter what I do or what medication I take. My breathing, balance, swallowing, gag reflex are all intact - telling Dr. T that despite my very unpleasant constant pain in my head I am on the mild side of Chiari symptoms. Like I said earlier I didn't know if I was symptomatic enough. So no surgery.
The nurse told us that most patients they see have been through years of misdiagnosis and many doctors by the time they are seen at their office and they have suffered for many years. So I feel blessed to have a diagnosis so quickly, but I'm not going to lie - I don't want to go for the next three months with daily pain. Ugghhh... I want to wake up one day without this pain, so hopefully exercise will help.
So for now I document my daily pain in painstacking detail, wait, and hope. :)
