The Doctor is In

In August, I began searching Chiari support groups, blogs, and forums to build a list of the top neurosurgeons in the country specializing in this condition. After factoring in insurance and location, I narrowed this down to three doctors:

Dr. John Oro at The Chiari Care Center in Denver
Dr. Ulrich Batzdorf at UCLA
Dr. Richard Ellenbogen at University of Washington

All three are highly-regarded, but what factored greatly in my decision was a blog I came across called My Life with Chiari Malformation Type I. The author, Jenn Ann, is from the same state as me, had similar symptoms, conducted the same type of search, and ultimately chose Dr. Oro at the Chiari Care Center. She had nothing but great things to say, and after doing some more follow-up, I came to the same conclusion: Dr. Oro was the perfect choice.

Dr. Oro created the Chiari Care Center to focus on treating patients with this condition, and he is a true leader in the field. He had already done an extensive number of decompression surgeries, and even better, my surgery would be 100% covered by my insurance plan.

I immediately set up an appointment to meet with Dr. Oro and his team to determine whether I was a candidate for surgery. I flew to Denver on August 28th, which just happened to be the same day as the Democratic National Convention -- well not just the day of the convention, but the day that Barack Obama was speaking to 800 billion people. The flight, traffic, and hotel were surprisingly less crowded than expected, probably because the entire metro area had already converged on Invesco Field.

My friend Martin, an all-around great guy but with questionable Madden skills, was good enough to meet me in Denver to help calm my nerves before the appointment. We grabbed some dinner, had some coffee, talked about what was involved in the surgery, and managed to get lost once or twice, even with a GPS. If getting lost in a city with a GPS unit while hyped up on coffee and stuffed with pizza isn't enough to keep your mind of a neuro appointment, I don't know what is.

I arrived at The Chiari Care Center's office the next morning. The office had a very relaxed atmosphere, and the entire staff was very professional, hands-on, and attentive. I started things off with several MRIs and CT-scans for Dr. Oro to review later that afternoon. I next headed to the main office, and met with Kimberly Sexton, the nurse practitioner. Finally, that afternoon, I met with Dr. Oro.

He went over my lab results with me in great detail, and answered all of my questions. I was fortunate that I hadn't yet developed a syrinx or any of the other Chiari-related symptoms (difficulty swallowing, etc.), and now that it was clear that The Chiari Care Center was a top-notch, world-class operation, I was ready to proceed.

I set up a surgery date of 10/23, and flew home feeling very good about my decision. My friends Martin and Roger, concerned about my surgery, but more concerned about my psychosomatic tendencies to get myself *out* of surgery, planned to meet Stacey and I in Denver the day we planned to arrive.

As luck would have it, my dependable, "never-say-quit" immune system quit on me, and I developed a very bad head cold and cough 10 days before surgery. I began pumping every nutritional molecule known to humans into my body, but it wasn't having any effect.

It wouldn't matter, because sadly on Sunday 10/19, my wife Stacey's mother Janice Tucker passed away unexpectedly. It was a tremendous blow to the family, but particularly to her daughters Stacey and Jill. Needless to say, the surgery was postponed, and we shifted our focus to working through this difficult family tragedy.

Several emotional weeks later, we decided we should still move forward with the surgery. Jan would have probably agreed to do the same. I called Dr. Oro's office and explained the situation. They were extremely understanding, and we set a new date of 11/20. The plan was for Stacey and I to stay at the hospital from 11/20 to 11/27 while Jill watched our kids. My mom Sharon would plan to come down on 11/27 (Thanksgiving) to help out upon our return home.

The date was set, and now it was just a matter of waiting. Work was as crazy as ever, and -- can you believe it -- I developed ANOTHER cold. A smaller one this time, but a cough that would linger longer than I could imagine. Regardless, I was going to Denver to face this, and if the doctors said it was okay to proceed, we would go through with it.

Coming Up Next: Off to Denver for Surgery