Hi, my name is Jo Anne. I had surgery January 18, 2007 in Miami. I had a cranectomy with supocciptal and C1 Lami with graft. I had been fighting major headaches for 6-8 months and getting worse. My neck were hurt and burn. I had difficulty swallowing, and off balance. I had three opinions before me and my family decided that surgery would be best. I've known that I have had Arnolds Chiari since 2000, with a MRI. I had a cyst-tonsil around 10mm and had syringmelia in the thoracic area. This was making Cerebral Spinal Fluid hard to flow properly. Surgery was on a Thursday and I don't remember anything until Monday. Yes, I was in pain! Tuesday they took out my shunt drain in the lumbar area. Weds. I started to get tremdious pressure in my head when I stood up, M.D. states that I have a cerebral spinal leak, and that they would have to do a blood patch. On friday morning they took me down to o.r. had me lye on my belly, which hurt, they did a lumbar puncture, and add my blood to the leakage area. I finally went home Friday evening. I still couldn't balance myself without help. Physical Therapy gave me a walker. Now I'm 4 weeks postop, I'm finally getting outpatient therapy for dizziness and strength training. Has anyone else had this problem after surgery? How long does it last? I want to back to a normal life. Thanks for listening, JO Anne