How did I get Chiari?

Many have asked me how I got Chiari.  Was I born with it?  Is it genetic?  Did I pass it to my children?  It isn't a story that I particularly like to tell but I think it is an important one nonetheless and am choosing to share just a tiny portion today to clear up any questions that are lingering out there.

Chiari can be acquired either genetically (as they are just discovering families who all suffer from chiari) or it can be sustained as a traumatic brain injury.

I spent my childhood (until age 14) living with my biological father (my biological mother left when I was 18 months old) who felt that beating the crap out of his children and wife (my step-mother) was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.  He was sneaky though as I rarely had a mark that could be seen.  Smart - literally a genius with an IQ off the charts.  I withstood a lot of head injuries and recall times that I blacked out.

I don't want to share more than that at this point.  There will be plenty of time in the future to explain everything as the time is right for both me and my children.  I feel a need to protect them for awhile longer.  They know very little other than that my biological parents were not good people and that I was adopted at age 17 and 3/4.  While this blog has been revealing, thankfully, no one is discussing it with my kids and I would appreciate it if no one does.  My children know that I am writing this but I have told them that they can read it when they are older.  No child needs a mental picture of their mother being beaten until she blacks out causing a brain injury.  I suspect that they have put many pieces together and have figured out more than perhaps I want them to.

Both Robert and Mary have undergone neurological testing including multiple MRI's to ensure that they do not have chiari and thankfully they do not.  I admit that every time they tell me they have a headache (rarely) my heart rate goes through the roof and my palms sweat as I worry that the MRI's were wrong and they have chiari.  I must remind myself that they don't - there is no history of chiari in my biological family nor in Tim's family.  As odd as it sounds, I am immensely grateful everyday that my chiari is a result of severe child abuse and that I did not pass it along to my children unknowingly as they were both born before I was diagnosed and would have even had a chance to look at the possible genetic component.

That is how I came to have chiari.  Tomorrow we discuss chocolate cake.  I have some thoughts... ;)