Cristina Garroni. Arnold Chiari I Syndrome, idiopathic Scoliosis and Medullary Traction Myelopathy.

Published by ICSEB at 5 February, 2009

Date of the intervention: February 2009.

Hello to all: My name is Cristina Garroni, I am 41 years old and live in Concorezzo, province of Milan. I will now tell you my story.

Since my adolescence I have always suffered from headaches, shoulder and neck pain. At the beginning of 2008, I started to suffer from pain in my right arm, which became more and more intense each month that went by. In November I could not lift it up or twist my hand anymore. My doctor (which is an ace) told me to have cervical and dorsal MRIs done, in such a way that in December I got a nice Christmas present: Arnold Chiari I Malformation.

I went to see the neurosurgeon on January 13th. His cold and hopeless answer was: “Madame, I must operate on you by means of a DECOMPRESSION, we may wait until spring but no more, otherwise we would be risking it.

I went back home feeling desperate, I was worn; I looked at my children and cried. On the following day I looked on the Internet and found the Institut Chiari of Barcelona website and read the testimonials. First I called Dr. Crocè who calmed me down and gave me Rita as a contact. Rita showed immediately the kind of person she is, a charming person. On the next day I called Barcelona and talked to Gioia Luè (an angel), she calmed me down and invited me to immediately send the MRIs.

After evaluating the level of my disease, they fixed up an appointment in Barcelona on February 4th 2009. On February 5th 2009, Dr. Royo (another angel) operated on me.

I was very scared, but he gave me a lot of strength. I could already walk slowly on the next day through the streets of Barcelona. When I went back home, the pain in my arm had disappeared: I could lift it up and could open bottles, I could not believe it. I went back after one month for a control and I had recovered myself a 70 %.

I have gone back this year, in March 2010, after a year from the surgery. I have totally recovered my arm strength, up to the point of having more strength than ever before.
Now I´m okay, the only thing is that the headache does not go away, although it is less frequent. I am thankful for all this to all the team, specially to Dr. Royo Salvador, for what he really is “my savior”; to Gioia who always supported me through the telephone and who gave so much energy.

I thank Rita, a potential doctor; always available to make you strong and to find a clear answer to all symptoms.

Many thanks to all of you, finally, with a very simple operation, I have become again who I was before.