A Rather Simple Healthy Life

I am sure that I am not the only one who has had to deal with trials and tribulations of being diagnosed with Chiari, but I feel that I among many have an interesting story to share and hope to maybe bring some help to others who are struggling with this disorder. I will start by identifying just who I am and bring my travels to a close when the time is right. I am a 38 yr-old female with 4 children, a set of twins, ages 18, a boy and a girl, a 10-year old son , and a 7-year old daughter. My husband, who has been my strength through all of my trials cannot be left unmentioned either. We have been together for 15 years and married for ten, my twins are from my first marriage. It has been a difficult road for us this last past year. Now it can't be left unsaid that for the majority of my life I have been for the most part healthy. As a child I had only had a really bad case of chicken pox at the age of 11. When I was 21, due to a high risk pregnancy I had pregnancy induced hypertension and toxemia due to my twins. Shortly after 12 hours in labor, and 2 hours of surgery, I finally got to see my newborns. They were an incredibly good size for twins 6.5# and 5.6# for being born 3 weeks early, one had anemia, otherwise healthy. After they were about 6 months I suffered from gallstones and had to have my gallbladder removed. As the years progressed I had a more healthy years, and more healthy pregnancies. I am a nurse, and I have been in the medical field for 20 years, starting out as a CNA, finally an LPN, working on an RN, while being a mother. Being in the nursing field makes life hard on the body it was bound to happen. I ruptured 2 discs and in 2002 and 2004, I had anterior cervical fusion of C6-C7, after trying to push my car off the road. A lumbar diskectomy of L4-L5, after a forceful sneeze caused me to rupture another. I did pain management for several years until the numbness and sciatica were to unbareable. I sometimes wonder if degenerative disc disease goes hand in hand with Chiari, I have found some references to that, but no medical findings yet. Other than those health issues I was rather healthy.