Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Excuse me, but it's kinda tight in here..

After several months of ongoing symptoms, I decided I could not accept the "stress" excuse. Yes, I had a lot going on in my life, at a very fast pace, but I knew that wasn't the reason for what I was feeling.

As the symptoms progressed and new ones arose, I decided to head back to the clinic I was originally seen at. The sent a referral to a Neurologist who never called. I waited 5 weeks to hear about an appt and never did. I understand it can take months to see a specialist, but it doesnt take 5 weeks to open an appt book. In my frustrations of waiting, I cancelled my referral and asked to see a specific Neurologist who had taken care of my step dad when he had a stroke just a month or so previous.

In April 2010, I met the man who was to be my Neurologist. He was tall, with bushy eyebrows and a funny sense of humor. His attire and haircut were out of date, but his personality made me laugh. He instantly knew what I was experiencing was not stress. Within a week, I had an EEG and MRI done.

At the end of May, Neal & I met him at the Queenway Carleton Hospital, where he is the head Neurologist. Neal instantly got a taste of his humor, when Dr Rabinovitch told me a strange guy was following me... it was Neal LOL. He informed us he had a proper diagnosis that would change my life forever.. I had Chiari Malformation and my option for treatment would be surgery. My brain was essentially sitting in my spinal cord because there wasn't room for it to entirely sit on my head...

 My referral was sent off to a Neurosurgeon right away and the next chapter was about to begin.....