non-practicing forklift certified.

Hey, thank you for asking! Idk if you’re asking about my neurosurgeon consult from yesterday or my EEG from today, so I’ll just answer both!

The neurosurgeon validated that I indeed am having symptoms from Chiari and that there is significant crowding in my brain, which was nice to hear since the other neurosurgeon said the opposite, which made absolutely no sense! This neurosurgeon really seems to know what he’s talking about so I trust that I’m in good hands. He specializes in Chiari malformation, among other things, and is highly regarded. I traveled three hours to see him.

He ordered a full spine mri, which I expected and I am glad he did. It’s to check for a cyst on my spine, which is a complication that can happen from Chiari, and it would necessitate surgery. The next question is, are my symptoms debilitating enough to warrant surgery of the skull. Another thing is that they sent me home with a neck brace that I’m to wear for three days, and it’s a diagnostic tool. Basically the brace should relieve the pressure that is being put on my brain, and it will inform them of which symptoms are from Chiari and the pressure and which may be unrelated, I think. It’s mine to keep, so beyond the three days, if I ever feel like wearing it for relief I can. Idk if I will though bc in the hospital when I had it fitted, it just made me feel like I’m chocking lol. I’m going to start wearing it tomorrow and I am NOT looking forward to it.

I feel confident that I am headed in the right direction now :) side note, it was at a children’s hospital (most Chiari specialists are pediatric neurosurgeons bc the other types of Chiari are found in infancy or early childhood, whereas my type is often found incidentally with no symptoms, or with onset of symptoms in early adulthood), and it was a really cute place :) the inside entrance was sort of designed like a train station, with booths and stuff. Plus they had a LOT of really cute cow and farm art (bc Wisconsin), and the walls were this pinkish coral red. It was cool. The floors were not red, however, which as we all know, is the ideal color for the floor of a children’s hospital.

My EEG went okay! I was so exhausted. She said I’m the only person this week who has fallen asleep fast and slept well for it. I was struggling not to fall asleep before the test while she was putting the electrodes on my head. I had so much glue on my head afterwards and my hair was such a birds nest. It was very annoying. Most of it came out in the shower though.

I was supposed to try to trigger my near fainting episodes if the seizure triggering stuff they were doing didn’t trigger it, and I was only partially successful. It like sort of happened but not really.

I won’t know the results of the EEG until my neurologist reviews it.