Poem and Pictures

Chiari l: Imagining A Patient's View

So I Say
Another headache
The third today

We all have them
So they say
I’m getting dizzy
My vision blurred
Your getting older
Don’t be absurd

I’m staying home
Too tired to go
Go see your doctor
She should know

Too many symptoms
You must be stressed
Take medication
And get some rest

I cannot think well
Can’t find the words
My memory slipping
My speech gets slurred

We’ll get a scan
Since you insist
If we find nothing
Please don’t persist

Don’t make me laugh
Don’t make me cry
It hurts to strain
I don’t know why

Your scan is fine
By report today
Incidental Chiari
So they say

Incidental
What do you mean
By a doctor
I have not seen

It is anxiety
That makes you so
The world is stressful
I think you know

I pulled away
Gave up, or such
Until the pressure
Became to much

I waded through
The Internet
Fearful of loosing
What I had left

It took some time
To come to know
My brain is hanging
Down too low

With every beat
The fluid flows
Deep in the brain
To the opening below

The rush of fluid
Seeking release
Finds cerebellum
Which makes it cease

The pressure spikes
My head explodes
It makes such sense
Now that I know

Working together
We’ll find a way
To make it better
So I say

by John Oro’, MD



Amanda and I

She has triplets and 1 singleton. We delivered 10 days apart from each other, our babes were all in the NICU together, and her daughter also had cranio surgery. I do believe God made us friends for a reason!