Surgery Update

I saw Dr.Rigamonti today, here is the deal. I am experiencing new symptoms a lot of weakness in my left side as far as my arm and leg goes, my left eye is drooping really bad and doesn't seem to be reactive, I also have some numbness in my face, hands and feet. He had sent me to the local ER at St.Mary's Tuesday night because of all the new symptoms and my headache had gotten so bad, they did another MRI after 9 hours of waiting and it showed that my herniation was stil 21mm. The ER doctor didn't even know what Chiari was or what part of the body it dealt with, LOL. I spoke with Dr. Rigamonti the next morning and he scheduled me to come to see him first thing this morning (5/21/09) to get my shunt adjusted (my shunt is programable and resets around magnetic fields so I have to get it re programmed after every MRI). When I saw him this morning he immediatly sent me to have another MRI done. The MRI at Johns Hopkins is 3D and it would also show the CSF flow and if there was a blockage to my brain from the herniation. The results were that there was. I am being admitted June 3rd, he is going to do surgery and tie off my LP shunt and put an ICP monitor in my brain for 3 days (yep, I get to have another hole drilled in my head), that will tell if I am still dependent on my shunt or not. If my intracranial preasure is high, I will then have to have a VP shunt put in my brain to relieve the fluid. We will check after a month to see if the Chiari is improving or not, if not I will then have to have decompression surgery. We are taking it one step at a time right now, I will keep everyone updated.