Vivien Chen. Arnold Chiari I, Cord Traction Syndrome. Descent of the cerebellar tonsils.

Published by ICSEB at 5 March, 2013

Surgery date: May 2012

Hello.

I underwent the sectioning of the Filum Terminale surgery in Spain on 22 of May 2012, with a diagnosis of Arnold Chiari, without Syringomyelia.

It all started put with a sudden headache on December 2011, a doctor from Shanghai diagnosed a CSF leak caused by to a rupture in the spinal cord membranes and I was treated with an blood patch in Hangzhou. After that, the headache disappeared, but a loss of strength in the left and neck stiffness appeared additionally, I wasn’t able to bend my head downwards. Other than the headache, I had already had pain the left side of the back.

I then sent all my exams and reports to Dr. Royo of Spain, he diagnosed a descent of the cerebellar tonsils. I immediately booked surgery for February 2012.

After surgery, the state of my health has improved ever so much; up to today (1 March 2013) I keep experiencing positive effects, even though there aren’t any visible changes of the cerebellar tonsils on my last MRIs.

I now no longer have intense headaches and my backache has improved by 80%, before the surgery, it wouldn’t allow me to sit for a longer while at my desk. The strength in my left hand hasn’t changed much, but hasn’t progressed or deteriorated. And when I am sitting for a long time (for example on international flights) and when it’s cold, the neck stiffness and the backache do still appear, but the situation is so very much better.

There was a time when I was lying in bed every day, thinking about how the rest of my life would go by. I was always thinking about whether I would be able to recover my normal life, I would have been very grateful, because I wasn’t able to leave my bed due to my bad health. Now, I have recovered my normal life, I am able to do the chores around the house and on top I am taking my two year old daughter travelling!

Right now I am on a business trip in the United States, it is a very long journey that I wasn’t able to imagine before. I am very grateful to Dr. Royo and his team and for giving me this life back.

Even though the post-surgical assessment is different for everyone, I recommend that everybody send their cases to Dr. Royo, I hope you will be able to receive the best treatment!

Kind regards!

Vivien Chen

*Pueden contactarme a través de Pei Chen: [email protected]