Monday, October 20, 2008

Chiari Anatomy 101

I have known about Chiari only since September 2006 ~ yet it seems like a lifetime. I try to stay on top of reading other chiarian blogs and doing research on the internet ~ I came across this neat picture that visually shows you what a brain tail looks like from a bone/brain perspective.
What you are looking at is the back of the head. The cerebellum is supposed to be above the foramen magnum, but a person with Chiari, like myself, has brain matter herniated down through the foragmen magnum into the spinal column. This picture shows what the head looks like after Posterior fossa decompression surgery. The surgical procedure removes bone at the back of the skull and spine so that the brain tail has more room to hang out. Well that's my attempt at a non-medical explanation anyay. I am still hoping there's room in there to request for a memory upgrade during my surgery. Maybe they could upload a kung fu program ~

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

very good picture Lace.
How is your brain tail treating you today?
L

jcubsdad said...

"and then everybody was kung fu fighting" (OK song stuck in my head, kung fu panda here I come)

I am two weeks and two days post decompression, other then the scarring and some lingering neck ache I feel like a new creation.

You are going to feel so much better when yours is done. The Doctors you have rock like Dr. Oro rocks.

By Mid January you will be SOOO much better.