i am 17 years old and in August of 2012 i had been diagnosed with chiari malformation. i have a syrinx at the top of my spinal cord and another one right about a herniated disc that i have in the t-12 region....... my symptoms include extremly bad headaches, neck pains, shooting pains down my spine, and numbness to the point of brief paralysis in my legs..... i met with an amazing neurosuregon at New York Presbyterian Hostpial in the Cornell Weil College...... my decompression surgery is set for Decemeber 19th 2012..... just 20 days away...... my nerves are through the roof and im praying i dont have a bad experience with recovery......... after all i am 17 years old and all i want is to be able to live my life normally again because my symptoms have taken me out of work and leave me home from school plenty of days......bottom line is my life is no longer the same....

Does anyone have any tips for me of what i should do before or after surgery to help with my recovery and procedure? im still so young and am extremely nervous for this whole scenario!!! PLEASE HELP!