MRI results

Well, Meghan's MRI was just two days ago.  It was a rough day.  She had been fighting a cold a few days before her MRI so we were concerned she wouldn't be able to have her MRI.  A day before her MRI, her cold disappeared, so we were happy with that.  Of course, as Meghan's luck would have it, we were 15 miles away from Childrens for her MRI and she vomited.  I thought foresure she would not be able to have her MRI.  But, luckily, she didnt have a fever and I told the nurse and ICU doctor that Meghan vomits when she gets over heated and I felt that is what happened this morning in the vehicle.  She got cleared for her MRI. The MRI took a little less than 1.5 hours.  She had images taken of her brain checking the Chiari Malformation, the spine checking the syrinx, and what's called a CINE (sin-e) MRI, which checks the flow of cerebral spinal fluid along the spinal cord up to the brain.  Fluid flows up the spinal cord, over the brain and back down the spinal cord with each heartbeat.  They are checking for any blockage of CSF fluid flow.  Meghan took a little longer to wake up from the sedative this time, but she did great!  Once she was awake for a while, we headed over to the Neurosurgeon - Dr. Petronio.  He is wonderful!  He asked us a bunch of questions, asked about her symptoms, asked about her development since the shunt was placed, and did a neuro evaluation of her.  Then he went over the MRI images.  He told us she definitely has Chiari Malformation.  Her brain herniation out of the skull pertrudes by 9 mm.  Doesn't sound like much, but it is a decent size herniation.  He then talked about the syrinx on her lower spine.  It was the same size from 3 months ago.  He then talked about the results from the CINE MRI.  She has complete blockage of CSF fluid.  Given her symptoms and that she has complete CSF blockage and a syrinx, it was determined that she needs to have decompression surgery within 6 months.  This is an invassive surgery.  The surgery will take 2-3 hours.  Meghan will be in PICU the first night, then will be in a regular room for another 4-5 nights.  The FULL recovery time at home is up to18 months, but she should be somewhat back to herself 3 weeks post op.  Anytime you are dealing with opening the brain, you need to allow your brain plenty of time to heal.  The advantage we have is her age, and kids her age usually bounce back faster than an adult.  We are working on scheduling a date, but right now, it is looking like the first or second week in January.  We hope for a successful surgery and that no further decompression surgeries will be necessary.  During her neuro exam, he mentioned that Meghan has Hypotonia in her ankles.  He defined them as being floppy, very low muscle tone.  She also has flat feet.  He talked to us about Meghan possibly needing braces.  He said that as she gets older, she will eventually walk on the inside of her feet if not corrected.  I will be talking to her PT and OT next Wednesday about this and to see if they think we need to take her to an orthopedist.