Being on my fourth surgery, please,please do your homework and make them explain anything to you that you don't understand, because the doctors will rush you out of their office and your poor daughter will still be in pain. Make sure you keep copies of her MRI's before and after with Gadolinium, it will help the doctors find the problems in the nerves. Get 2nd and third opinions before any surgery and inquire about shunts just in case, I dont know the severity of her chiari but I'm assuming it's a Chiari I Malf. and there is probably a Syrinx involved,that causes pressure on the nerves as well as it could cause some damage if not corrected early enough. Some good news though is that you caught it while she was young, and the results are usually good for kids, for example my first surgery in 2002 my Goddaughter had the same surgery she recovered in 3 weeks totally and I was barely moving after one Month, Please let me know if this helped and I hope the best for you and your family.