Well, where to begin. First of all, I've decided to start this blog as a record of everything associated with my journey. It fills three different purposes, first it's a great way to let my friends and family know what's going on through the various doctors appointments and everything else. Second, it is a historical record for me and my family of the journey from start to finish. Lastly, it's a way for me to vent and share what I'm feeling/thinking.
First of all, about two months ago, on a Wednesday night, I came out of the shower and noticed something wasn't right with my vision. It wasn't quite double vision, but something definitely wasn't right. I couldn't exactly pinpoint it, and chalked it up to something going on with my contacts. Shortly after this started, a headache developed in the back of my head, way down at the base near the bottom of my hairline. It was just a minor headache, so I decided to go to bed and assume that it would go away overnight. Of course, I didn't tell my wife, mainly because I didn't think it was a big deal. Of course, she didn't like this idea due to the vision issues as well.
Anyway, I went to bed, not thinking anything more of it. About 0300 in the morning, I woke up and couldn't hardly move. When I would stand up, it would get worse. When I sat down, it got worse. When I laid down, it got worse. I managed to roll out of bed, and make my way, hunched over in pain, to the medicine cabinet to get some motrin (that is the military cure all, 800 mg motrin). I waited about 30-45 minutes just sitting in my recliner, exhausted because I apparently didn't sleep well for the 4 hours I was in bed.
After about 30 minutes, I decided it was time to call the nurse on-call line. Gave them my information, and waited for them to call back. A few minutes after that, my wife comes out of the bedroom and I fill her in. She immediately calls her mom to come over and sit with the kids because she is pretty sure we are going to the hospital since I can hardly walk upright. The nurse line calls back, and after a hundred questions, they recommend me calling 911 and taking an ambulance to the emergency room. Since the emergency room is less than 3 miles away, the wife and I decide that it would take longer for the ambulance to get there than it would for her to just drive me to the ER. Off we go.
We get to the ER at about 0430 and have to sit in the waiting room for a surprisingly short time. Don't get me wrong, surprised, but very thankful. We went back and were triaged pretty quickly, and they took me back to a room that also had optometry equipment, just in case there was something wrong there. They first thought that it was simply a migraine, however I'd never had a history of headaches or migraines. I also wasn't reacting to the bright lights of the ER, so that made them feel it didn't quite fit the template for a migraine.
They first sent me back for a CT scan, checking for major issues in my brain. They didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but even the VERY strong migraine medicine they gave me wasn't completely taking care of the headache. They were still concerned and decided to order an MRI. Unfortunately, the hospital we went to had a problem with their MRI machine, so they had to transport me, via ambulance, to another hospital in their network. So after that, they did the MRI and got the results pretty quickly. The doctor on call in the ER came in and said that I had a condition known as Arnold Chiari Malformation Type 1. I simply asked....in english please. He explained to me that there was a malformation of my skull that is forcing the Cerebral tonsils in my brain to extend down into my spinal canal. This was causing increased pressure on both the spinal cord and the tonsils of the brain. This caused the headache and the vision issues. He recommended me follow up with a Neurosurgeon the next day.
So began my journey.
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