UPDATE...

Hey all, happy spring! It has been four months since I wrote on here and I think it is time for an update. I see on here that people do visit so I should give y'all something new to read.

I am doing very well. What is left of my Chiari issues are much more manageable compared to a year ago. The crushing back of the skull headaches are pretty much gone. I think I have had maybe two or three in the past 6 months. I still have the peripheral neuropathy in my left foot and sometimes leg. It comes and goes. Very strange. The back of my throat still has numb parts to it causing me to choke on liquids if I am not careful. This one really stinks. I am always choking on my drinks. I have to sort of let the liquid accumulate in the front of my mouth, feel it out if you will, before I swallow. I still have hand tremors although I think they may be a little less pronounce. Constipation is still the bane of my existence. I currently drink prune juice like a 90 year old. It helps a little. My shoulders and neck still get very sore and cause me migraines. My hubby massages them every day for me. He is so good to me :) . The Reynaulds is still there as well as the tachycardia, but I believe I addressed that in the last post. I take a beta blocker for my sympathetic nervous system malfunction and it seems to do the trick.

I have a new diagnosis, chronic dry eyes. Fascinating story, at least to me, you see I have had the worse itchy eyes the past couple of years. They have been so maddening that scooping them out with a spoon and scrubbing them down with bleach had become a real option. Every year is worse, and this year I couldn't take it. I went to an allergist and she said because it is really only one eye (the right eye was severe), it wasn't allergies. I had never thought of that. They itched something fierce and I thought that always meant allergies. Anyway, I went to the eye doc and he did a few tests on my eyes and said I had dry patches on my corneas and diagnosed me with chronic dry eyes. He gave me some drops to try. First one worked like a charm! Amazing, the itch is gone!

I thought about taking another picture of my scar, but honestly you cannot see it. My hair covers it completely. The only way I know it is there, is the indentation where the scar would be.

My life has definitely changed for the better since the surgery. It will be a year in June and I am glad I did it. I am a full-time college student with a 4.0 GPA so far. I am looking for a job (but where I live, the pickings are slim). Oh, I almost forgot the most important part, I am much calmer. I handle stress better than I did. I think this is a direct result of the lack of headaches. I was in such a deluge of constant pain. Headaches everyday. It wears you down. You just don't have the patience for noise (ie kids). So now I spend a lot of time trying to repair the damage of the last decade on my children's and my relationships. We are definitely a lot closer now.

Well, I feel like crap. My husband decided to bring home a nasty bug to me. He is so thoughtful. I want to go back to bed now.

Thanks for reading my journey to health.

God bless you all,
Lori