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Radiologist's take on chiari (humorous but frustrating)

Just thought I'd share a little story that made me shake my head and laugh.

I needed to have a biopsy of my thyroid done and a radiologist performed it. I made a comment that I was more nervous about lying with my neck extended for 15 minutes than the actual biopsy itself. So he asked why and I told him about my chiari surgery and we got to talking and he found out it took 18 months to get a diagnosis.

And he said, "why, chiari is so easy to diagnose, it's right there on the MRI."

I was speechless.  I just didn't even know where to start.
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Avatar universal
Your post made me laugh so hard, thank you!!  We have to have a sense of humor regarding all of this or we will go crazy.
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  That's great...you need to be confident as well as comfortable with your Dr...and vise versa...and if we do not laugh we might implode....or explode...either one does not sound fun or good for us....so even tho it may hurt to laughI would rather laugh then implode.
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Avatar universal
Haha!!! Good one! If only it were so easy right?? :/
Speaking of thyroid...I was talking with my Neurologist recently - she either really likes me as patient (I mean what doctor wouldn't with my multi-mixed pack of health issues!!!) or she had a canceled appts. that day, b/c we chatted about everything from my purse to gardening as well as my crazy health(she's SO invested in m as a patient- love her!).
So...she started laughing when we were talking about my total thyroid removal...(I had a rather emergency total thyroid removal a few years back). I wasn't sure why she was laughing...she said "you poor thing..between the Chiari surgery and thyroidectomy, you've been too close to decapitation!" She was joking of course...but yea, by the visuals of it- cut from the front, cut from the back- all but the spinal cord & spine-she's nearly right!!! It was funny...we have a good balanced Dr. /patient relationship.
Again...she was joking...all in good humor.
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Avatar universal
You both made me laugh!

I did try to educate him that it doesn't need to be over 5 mm and to look at the sides and not just the back part of the herniation.  Maybe, just maybe, he will help someone in the future.
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Avatar universal
If you can get a doctor to order an MRI, right? You give them all your symptoms and they just stare at you like you are crazy. It took me 48 years to get one. And then told it wasn't the cause for another 12 years.
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  My question to him would have been " where have you been those 18 months?"...lol...wow....
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