Chiari Bites

I'm sorry that I've spent so much time lately avoiding my blog. I just really haven't had anything interesting to say. To be honest, I really haven't been much fun to be around!
I've spent the last few weeks watching all of Bobby's Chiari symptoms return....one by one until they are all back full force. The headaches bring him to his knees, the vertigo stops him in his tracks, the ringing in his ears has him gripping the sides of his head. He's even started passing out again. What worries me the most is his breathing and his heartrate though. His tachycardia and his chiari are connected because everytime his chiari symptoms return so does his rapid heart rate. Tachycardia is a symptom of Chiari, but Bobby also has ventricular tachycardia anyway. His heartrate is crazy enough without adding chiari symptoms to the mix. Friday he was standing in the kitchen talking to me one minute and the next minute he was silent. I looked up when I noticed that he had stopped talking-just in time to see him grab his chest and fall to the floor. He was pale and clammy. I kept shouting his name and asking him what was wrong but he didn't respond. I finally realized that I needed to call 911. Scared me AND the girls. We know that he's got an extremely elongated syrinx. It goes much further down his spine than it ever did before. We also know that before he had his surgery his oxygen was compromised because his brain stem was so compressed that it was cutting off a great deal of his oxygen supply. The most concerning for us after the decompression surgery was that the syrinx (from the syringomyelia) didn't fully drain like they expected it to. It has just continued to expand and elongate over time. He has way too much CSF. What we know now (after his most recent scans) is that the syrinx is going to need to be dealt with. He is also (most likely) going to need another decompression in the future.

I also know this.....we hate Chiari!