I had the decompression surgery done three years ago, and am now totally symptom free.
I was very lucky, no permanent damage had done due to the chiari. When it comes to the recovery it took about 1 month for most of the stiffness in the neck to go away and another two to work out the rest of the stiffness and pain with PT. I've written most of my story down, from diagnosis to recovery, but unfortunately I don't have enough posts to allow me to post links just yet. But I will as soon as I've paid my dues