Update

Because I know everyone reading this is waiting anxiously to hear and is as excited to know as the strangers next to us at the creek who witnesses our celebration (over and over again)...

Charlie is a swimmer!

And a hiker!

Seriously, though, watching her take to the water and hike off leash, being sure to never get ahead of Craig or let me fall too far behind her, was the cutest thing in the world... second only to every sleeping position that followed for the rest of our time in Sedona.

Certification or not, she is undoubtedly our therapy dog.

The morning after we arrived home, I had my second visit with Dr. Gailius (cranial osteopath at Midwestern University clinic). We started out by asking him what his thoughts on my basilar invagination that I talked about in my last post. He's certainly not closed minded to the idea that it could be playing a role, but like the others we've talked to about it, doesn't really know enough about BIs to have a strong opinion one way or the other. We'll plan to ask Dr. Cisler though too, who I see in Tucson on Monday for treatment #2.

Dr. Gailius did explain that with cervicogenic headaches caused by whiplash, he usually feels sphenobasilar strain (SBS) compression. SBS strain patterns are named for the position of the sphenoid on the occiput. But the odd part is, he felt like there's good movement at my sphenoid and occiput. He thinks that my occipital condyle (see image below) is locked into my 1st cervical vertebrae and still feels like there is significant dural strain.

In my occipital/cervical area, he felt inflammation/fluid build up on both my left and right sides. He felt some additional somatic dysfunction down my left arm (way more so than the right), which is the one I broke when I was 14 in a soccer collision and has hardware inside (2 plates, 16 screws), and similar dysfunction at my second rib (again, much worse on left side). Whether or not the hardware in my arm has somehow been playing a role in all of this nonsense is actually something we've talked about before and have worked (albeit very minimally) with one of my PTs months ago. Craig had also spent some time scraping my scar, just to see if freeing up some scar tissue could help. We're thinking that focusing on some arm-intensive rehab in the meantime, though, might be worth a shot.

Dr. Gailius also thought that the rotations at my OA joint (atlanto-occipital joint- the articulation between the atlas and the occipital bone) are related to my dural tension (there's no dural attachment at C1 which is why it isn't there).

Side note, real quick: For all of the anatomy & physiology flashcards I made in college, three years of this^ is an entirely more effective method of learning. Hah! What a price to pay, huh?

So anyway, I have my appointment with Dr. Cisler on Monday (which will be focused on the brain protocol I mentioned in my last post) and then go back to see Dr. Gailius at the end of next week.

A few other updates...

Dr. Dodick (Mayo Clinic neurologist) got back to us about the basilar invagination. To sum it up, he doesn't think the basilar invagination is relevant but does think it may be worth exploring intervention at C1. If you've been reading my blog all along, you may remember that we went through a bit of a circle of opinions in the C1 department and ended up not following through with any kind of invasive procedure due simply to the risk involved. But Dr. Dodick told us that his friend and colleague is pioneering a procedure directed at C1 which is showing significant promise, so I'll be going into Mayo to meet with him soon to discuss next steps.

After doing a little research, I've also decided to give Rolfing a try and scheduled my first session with Jeffrey Maitland, PhD (which isn't until the end of July). Rolfing is a form of bodywork that reorganizes the connective tissues (fascia) that permeate the entire body. I'll elaborate more on that as the treatment gets closer, but am happy to have it on the books.

Lastly, Craig just reached out today to a holistic doctor and founder of a bodywork called MyoReflex Therapy in a small city in southern Germany, near the border of Switzerland. His name is Dr. Kurt Mosseter and he was highly referred to us by USMNT coach Juergen Klinsmann when we met up with him back in May. Juergen didn't have enough good things to say about his experiences with him, so although no trips to Germany are in the works right now, we're hopeful that he has a chance to look over my history and give us his thoughts as to whether that might be worth talking more about.