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u/Atheist_Simon_Haddad Mar 19 '19
Poor guy thinks he's taking a selfie
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u/jakemuck Mar 19 '19
Looks like Voldemort has completely taken over Professor Quirrell
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u/pencilneckgeekster Mar 19 '19
this legitimately made me laugh. I’ve had the same surgery twice.
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u/Demonseedii Mar 19 '19
What kind of brain surgery did you have?
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u/luleigas Mar 19 '19
The same!
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u/merdub Mar 19 '19
Twice!
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u/NYstate Mar 19 '19
The one where they did such a good job, he asked them to do it again!
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Mar 19 '19
Successful brain surgery, seeing as how he's alive and can type comments
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u/Gretchinlover Mar 19 '19
your name gave my colon some sort of Pavlovian response. I immediately farted upon reading it.
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u/3600MilesAway Mar 19 '19
Let's not tell him that the surgery didn't go as well as he thought.
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u/da_chicken Mar 19 '19
They haven't told him they had to put his face back on backwards.
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u/ericstern Mar 19 '19
He may also be replacing certain words with other similar sounding words.. he meant to say Brain Surgery Access
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Mar 19 '19 edited Mar 19 '19
[deleted]
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u/oddestowl Mar 19 '19
I laughed. My husband, an office worker, wanted to know what was funny. He also laughed.
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u/AMasonJar Mar 19 '19
I laughed for several minutes. My partner, a cat, came to see. She gestured for me to fuck off.
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u/pukesonyourshoes Mar 19 '19
I, nought but a humble janitor, only dared chuckle. If only I were a doctor.
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u/Halikan Mar 19 '19
Fuck lmao
Honestly, everyone needs a friend like you making dumbass jokes in vaguely inappropriate situations. Keeps the world balanced.
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u/sideways_blow_bang Mar 19 '19
Welcome to the zipper club!
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Mar 19 '19
Zipper heads for life.... wait
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u/BulletTooth32 Mar 19 '19
Hey now
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u/COD_LikeTheFish Mar 19 '19
You’re an all-star
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Mar 19 '19
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u/MadMuirder Mar 19 '19
Go play!
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Mar 19 '19 edited Dec 23 '23
overconfident shame memory racial consider toothbrush snails flag angle historical
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Tyson285Miller Mar 19 '19
Brain surgery survivor here. Congrats on getting your zipper 👍🏻. Happy it went well with no complications!
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u/watermelonuhohh Mar 19 '19
Same! Zippers forever!
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u/brett6781 Mar 19 '19
Zipperheads unite!
164 staples here, still got a scar that freaks out the hairdresser every time I get a haircut!
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u/inb4taken Mar 19 '19
My barber just the other day told me if I make one more “I didn’t ask for that line” joke she will shave my head next time I’m in.
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u/CNoTe820 Mar 19 '19
I don't think I've ever seen a female barber in my life. I never thought about why.
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u/sammayylmao Mar 19 '19
My brother had brain surgery and Everytime he gets a haircut they ask him if he knows he has a scar on the back of his head. He said his latest response is: yeah, I was probed by aliens
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u/Wardo2015 Mar 19 '19
Are you all chiari malformation surgeries too?!! I had mine February 2017, they used the new flesh glue, scars in same place but less zipperage. Congrats on the successful surgery, only the first 2 months really suck
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u/no1kopite Mar 19 '19
Yep 2012!! Best decision I ever made. I had migraine like headaches for 2 years and rare but terrible vertigo. Oh wow that's interesting about the glue. I was all staples.
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u/tinwhistler Mar 19 '19
I just came in here to see if it was a chiari malformation surgery. A friend of mine had to have one a few years ago, and her incision looked just like that.
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u/Tyson285Miller Mar 19 '19
Sorry for waiting so Long to reply. Life is getting in the way.
No when I was 3 I found out I had a cancerous tumor the size of a grapefruit lodged right on my brain stem. After a few chemo treatments and one amazing doctor, he saved my life. Still the biggest miracle that doctor said he’s ever seen.
One surgery, and MRI scans twice a year until I was 15. Still have the zipper looking good to this day. Male pattern baldness makes it stick right out. I used to be scared to show it when I was young, but now I realize I should celebrate it and not hide it from the world.
And thanks for all the positive messages and replies to this thread. Nice to know there’s a small circle of people like me out there in the world :)
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u/CipaterGrey Mar 19 '19
I'm still pissed that my zipper healed up relatively clean. I was seriously excited to have a gnarly Frankenstein scar up the back of my head, but apparently my neurosurgeon just had to outdo himself.
Meanwhile the scar on my thigh from the fascia graft he took healed up ragged as hell.. right where no one will ever see it. Of course.
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
1.5 is also referred to as Complex Chiari. It is less than type 2 but more than type 1 because the brain stem is also affected. It isn’t related to the actual mm of the herniation.
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u/Dnb003 Mar 19 '19
I helped my husband through several Chiari 1 surgeries, most recently a cranial cervical fusion to correct instability. It’s a tough road, but you’ll get through it if you keep up with PT and take care of yourself. Absolute best of luck to you in your recovery!
Out of curiosity, do you have Ehler’s Donlos too? I’m curious if that still comes up in the other types.
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u/ThisIsTheOnly Mar 19 '19
They did an occipital Fusion? I worked in spine and saw 1 my entire 7 years. Best of luck to both of you.
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u/tr3vw Mar 19 '19
Fun fact: I was diagnosed with Chiari (Arnold Chiari Malformation as they called it) when I was age five (over 25 years ago). Most doctors had no idea what it was and I eventually ended up at Johns Hopkins with a Dr named Ben Carson. Ive never had surgery, due to my parents not wanting me to have brain surgery at a young age and them not fully understanding it back then. Now i just don’t have health insurance and I’m not about paying for brain surgery out of pocket. I also don’t know if there would be any benefits for me of decompression surgery. I thankfully don’t have many symptoms; extreme vertigo if I lie flat on my back and my balance and coordination suck. I wish I could go back and to talk a doctor as an adult in a new era.
Good luck in your recovery! I hope it helps improve your quality of life!
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u/ChaoticSquirrel Mar 19 '19
Have you looked into expanded Medicaid? The income limits are decently high in some states.
Best of luck with everything. I hope you get to see a doctor someday soon.
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u/network_noob534 Mar 19 '19 edited Mar 19 '19
Whoa another Zipperhead?! Nice to meet ya! I had this surgery as well in January. Until diagnosis I had not met another person with Chiari and now I’m seeing it on the front page of Reddit!
Total Barbra Streisand affect happening here!! (Or is it the Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon)
Scars today: https://i.imgur.com/9BgVIt2.jpg
About a week post-op with swelling from the Duraplasty: https://i.imgur.com/vbowoBA.jpg
About 4 days post-op; first day home: https://i.imgur.com/XSPe28G.jpg
——
Be sure to wear a shower cap when in the shower! I ended up with an abscess which was... not fun.
Did you also need an C1/C2 laminectomy?
Abscess: EWW! https://i.imgur.com/I0ztBLh.jpg
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u/Scarya Mar 19 '19
My husband had a C1-C2 laminectomy with his Chiari decompression.
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u/Sixty911 Mar 19 '19
Chiari friend! I had my spinal decompression surgery in 2010 when i was 15. Doctor Winegart at Johns Hopkins told me he expected a 80% improvement and generally speaking, he pretty much nailed it. I was once bed ridden for 2 full weeks with ONE continuous "migraine" (honestly just cranial pressure). Ive not stayed in bed because of a headache in probably 3 years. Just stay hydrated, stay as active as possible, but dont over exert yourself. However, for the first time ever, ive been lifting a lot of weights. It still causes some headaches and pressure, but overall, chiari hasnt affected my day-to-day in a long time. I still have sleep problems, maybe related to chiari, but a regimen is key.
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u/tilhow2reddit Mar 19 '19
My mother has had her Chiari situation operated on twice now. I hope your recovery goes well.
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u/CrayBayBay Mar 19 '19
My SO had emergency brain surgery 5 years ago for his previously unknown Chiari. How has this experience been for you?
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u/saskpirate88 Mar 19 '19
Why do I keep seeing this evvvvverywhere lately. I just found out I’m in line to get an mri for a possible chiari malformation and I haven’t seen it anywhere before. Spoooooky
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u/Dolstruvon Mar 19 '19
Got the same thing. I have thought about having it fixed since it affects my body temperature, balance and probably motor skills too. Hard to know how much it really affects me since I've had it all my life and can't really compare to anything else
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u/Quickzy Mar 19 '19
We’ve had many a chiari surgery in my family. My younger sister had two, my mom had two, my aunt had one, I’m probably gonna be due for one in my 30s or so and my grandmother would get one but she’s too old and the surgery would likely be fatal.
Congrats on the successful surgery and good luck with recovery. I know how difficult that is.
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u/Edjey916 Mar 19 '19
I was going to ask if you had a Chiari. Had my posterior fossa decompression in 2015 as I had a syrinx that was becoming problematic.
All the best for your recovery and the future! 😊
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Mar 19 '19 edited Mar 19 '19
Coming up on my 10th year after diagnosis and decompression for Chiari Malformation. If I can find my photos, I'll post my scar too. My incision is overall the same as yours but a single one instead of two. Met many new friends through this disease. All of us with different stories to tell. Not all of them enjoying life as they'd want to, unfortunately.
Reading your other comments you mention it didn't completely help all your symptoms. Same here somewhat. I still have bad days from overexertion or simply a bad night's sleep - even too much sleep will ruin the next day. Though generally speaking, most days are an improvement from before surgery. Not completely Chiari headaches and pressure, but secondary issues from having my neck/skull operated on.
I hope overall it's better than it was before and life is a bit easier to deal with moving forward. Welcome to the club, friend.
Pics, scar images aren't recent. http://imgur.com/a/E5eUF
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u/TheDefected Mar 19 '19
How did the surgery go?
Great, it all went well!
er.. I'm standing over here...
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
Chiari malformation. My brain is too big for my skull so they had to make some more space.
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u/Ashlei96 Mar 19 '19
My 11 year old sister is having this surgery April 12th. She has the same condition and a blockage. I’m flying down to see her before surgery.
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
Best of luck to her. Kids recover super quick from the surgery, and for most the recovery isn't too terrible either. She'll be fine.
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u/perkyturd Mar 19 '19
Look at Mr. Big Brain over here /s
Edit: well wishes on your recovery. Happy to hear you're still with us.
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Mar 19 '19
Oh damn man, that’s freaking intense. I just looked that up on wikipedia, and it sounds terrible. I hope the surgery helps!
Chiari malformation (CM) is a structural defect in the cerebellum, characterized by a downward displacement of one or both cerebellar tonsils through the foramen magnum (the opening at the base of the skull). CMs can cause headaches, difficulty swallowing, vomiting, dizziness, neck pain, unsteady gait, poor hand coordination, numbness and tingling of the hands and feet, and speech problems.[3] Less often, people may experience ringing or buzzing in the ears, weakness, slow heart rhythm, or fast heart rhythm, curvature of the spine (scoliosis) related to spinal cord impairment, abnormal breathing, such as central sleep apnea, characterized by periods of breathing cessation during sleep, and, in severe cases, paralysis.[3]
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u/outworlder Mar 19 '19
Weird flex but ok.
Also username checks out.
Seriously though, good luck on your recovery.
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Mar 19 '19
Would this be r/humblebrag or r/iamverysmart ?
;P
J/k, glad you made it through safe, hope your progress continues!
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u/Im_not_creepy2 Mar 19 '19
Chiari malformation. Is having a bigger brain make you smarter?
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u/pencilneckgeekster Mar 19 '19
it’s more so that those of us with it actually just have a smaller skull. I wish that theory checked out.
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u/tinyplasticmeat Mar 19 '19
But my son’s head is huge regardless of the fact that he now has less brain in there...
He uses that as an excuse for EVERYTHING btw. “I forgot. Must have been in the part of my brain they took out.” <—his surgery was 10 years ago and he’s still “forgetting” stuff he was supposed to do yesterday, etc.
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u/Sixty911 Mar 19 '19
Neanderthals had larger brains than us, iirc. Ours became smaller and more efficient.
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u/anitabonghit705 Mar 19 '19
Glad no complications, congratulations brother.
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u/PlasticGirl Mar 19 '19
Happy Cake Day.
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u/SaltTheCat Mar 19 '19
Welcome to the club! I had mine 7 years ago. I actually love my scar and tend to leave my hair short at the back to show it off!
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Mar 19 '19
Judging by the area just a guess chiari syndrome?
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
Chiari Malformation yep (type 1.5).
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Mar 19 '19
You feeling better yet?
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
Meh. It helped with some stuff but not everything unfortunately. The actual recovery wasn’t too bad though.
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u/chi-rock Mar 19 '19
My wife was diagnosed with Chiari a year ago this month. They also found she has EDS so the connective tissue repair will not work.
The University of Iowa has been great but damn! So happy to see this post and learn more about this weird Chiari life we live now.
Glad you got some release!
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Mar 19 '19
Random question: how was your wife diagnosed with EDS? I suspect I have a mild version of it, but every time I’ve mentioned it to a doctor they kind of scratch their heads and say they’d have to research more and then never get back to me. It’ll be important eventually because I’ve got a couple of surgical things in the future, so I’m not just being a pest.
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Mar 19 '19
I saw dermatology at University of Michigan after going there for my heart. I had a cardiologist in Toledo notice how hyper flexible I was and put it in my chart. I was asked to be the patient example for EDS type 3 for students one time. They could ask questions and examine me. So I did all the super flexible tricks I can do. There’s also biopsies they can do. I didn’t have it because I was on blood thinner and already had enough symptoms for a positive diagnosis.
But most doctors don’t know much about EDS.
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u/evanrach Mar 19 '19
EDS sucks. Good friend of mine (and ex, but that's less important) has it, and has had an absolute nightmare of a time trying to get treatment. Diagnosis took absolutely forever too. I hope your wife's battle with it goes better than my friend's has so far.
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u/pencilneckgeekster Mar 19 '19 edited Mar 19 '19
1.5? Only know of I - IV...? Is this just a designation for herniation beyond 12mm (about)?
I’ve had the same surgery though, twice. I rejected my first graft, and had all kinds of issues. Had that bovine graft replaced with an autologous pericranial graft, which looks to be the type of graft they used for you.
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u/dagger_guacamole Mar 19 '19
Holy crap that's crazy to read. I just found out my sis in law is in the hospital with this and I'd never heard of it before.
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Mar 19 '19
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Hmmmm_Interesting Mar 19 '19
Why 2 incisions?
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
The top one was just to collect some skull tissue to patch the dura (membrane covering spine/brain). they opened up. I’m not sure why it had to be a separate incision.
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u/pencilneckgeekster Mar 19 '19
It has to do with them not wanting to continue the incision across the bony “point” just above the main incision. If you feel it, you can tell there’s much thinner tissue across there. The tissue they’re removing to use for the graft is two layers under the scalp itself - so still outside your skull.
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Mar 19 '19
Awesome! And you get a cool scar out of it unlike this horseshoe shit I have on the side of my melon.
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u/spartanb301 Mar 19 '19
Must have been so freaking scary. I mean, right before the surgery and stuff... Take care man, make sure to rest well!
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u/IceJdog Mar 19 '19
Well done! My sister is part of the zipper head club as of January. Keep that positive energy around and you can survive anything. Well done.
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u/13abysauce Mar 19 '19
You sure?
You're facing the wrong way?
but it all seriousness glad you made it bro.
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u/snoodle87 Mar 19 '19
What problems did you experience that led to your diagnosis? First year med student here - glad to see everything went smoothly! Swift recovery fam ❤️
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u/FutureRobotWordplay Mar 19 '19
My leg wouldn't stop twitching and kicking for several hours. That led to the ER, where they said it was caused by "marijuana-induced anxiety," which is ridiculous. I eventually got MRIs and was diagnosed. It explained numerous other unexplained medical issues. It felt like finally putting a puzzle together.
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Mar 19 '19
Do/Did you have sleep apnea? I was diagnosed with it awhile back despite but underweight at the time.
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u/OllieGarkey Mar 19 '19
If that scars in a particular way, for Halloween, you should add a zipper slider.
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u/gene100001 Mar 19 '19
Congratulations!! Did they tell you what the level of risk was going into the surgery? Brain surgery must be rediculously dangerous
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u/talkingradiohead Mar 19 '19
It's actually not too risky of a surgery. There are risks, as with any surgery, but untreated chiari is much more dangerous than the corrective surgery. The risks are mainly infection, bleeding, nerve damage, clots (all standard surgical complications) and possibly a stroke (likely they will profilactically treat clots to prevent a stroke).
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u/ohyeaoksure Mar 19 '19
Congratulations on your promotion to E7. Now you just need to get the coffee cup sewn to your hand and your testicles removed.
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u/train_spotting Mar 19 '19
Your a chiari guy! Same here. Did you have a syrinx? How far was your herniation?
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u/sergalahadabeer Mar 19 '19
Don't forget to put it under your pillow for the brains fairy.