Help! My Brain is Escaping.

               About five years ago I was in a car wreck. I was on the interstate going to visit my mother in the hospital. It was a rainy day and as I topped a rise in the road I saw that traffic was at a standstill. I managed to come to a stop without causing another wreck . . . the van behind me wasn’t so fortunate. According to the police report, he slammed into me doing around 70 mph.
I really don’t remember the wreck exactly, I was knocked unconscious and my first memories are of standing outside in the rain looking at a totaled car thinking to myself, “Someone’s been in an accident.” The next thoughts were, “Why am I standing out in the rain?” and “Why does my head and hand hurt?”  
I heard someone behind me say, “Sir, maybe you should sit down.” It started dawning on me that maybe I was the one that had been in the wreck. I agreed with the person behind me.
In the minute or so I was unconscious; I had gotten out of my car and went to check on the person in front of me. I apparently had asked to borrow his cell phone even though I had one. He was okay and his truck only had minor tailgate damage. He was the one suggesting I sit down.  
The van had hit me so hard it had shoved me into the pick-up truck in front of me, smashing both the front and back of my car - completely totaling it out. My head hit the steering will hard enough to knock me unconscious and my hand had slipped off the wheel and I had basically punched the dash hard enough to break it.
It took me another minute or so to remember my phone number - that’s never a good sign. I finally was able to call my wife, “Baby, apparently I’ve been in an accident.“
“What? Are you okay?”
“Well, I’m not sure. I don’t remember the wreck, but I’m on the interstate and the car has been totaled and there are people all around and I’m on someone else’s phone.”
“Honey, is there a police or anyone there?” She asked in a forced-calm voice.
There were police already on scene, they were working another accident up ahead - the reason for the traffic jam in the first place. One of the police arrived while I was talking and started checking me out. The back seat had broken during the collision so he sat in what was left of the back seat and supported it because I had potential back /head trauma. I asked him if he could talk to my wife. About that time paramedics arrived and one of them took over the supporting of the seat while the police officer took the phone and explained to my wife what apparently had happened. My wife told him which hospital to send me to and headed out herself.
I had to wait for the second ambulance. The wife of the van driver had smashed through the front window and suffered serious injury. His son had also suffered a broken leg, as I understand it, but he had to wait for the third ambulance.
My wife beat me to the hospital.
I remember being very cold for hours afterward. I spent all day in the hospital; I had CT scans and X-rays (interestingly enough, no MRI). I ended up having a concussion, a total of nine broken bones in my hand and wrist, and a lot of strained muscles. They sent me home late in the evening.
At the time I worked at, and attended, a state college. I drove a shuttle van and was, because of my injuries, out of work for about 8 months while I recuperated. I also wasn’t able to attend classes. I eventually was told, against Doctors orders, to come back to work anyway, and eventually lost my job there.
My time recouping was long and painful. I had to go regularly to physical therapy for my hand, arm, shoulder, neck, and back. Eventually, I regained enough use of my hand to go back to work. By this time I had lost my college job and applied for a job driving a school bus.
My injuries are still causing me some problems. Usually during the warmer seasons I’m okay, but during mid-to-late autumn through early spring my injuries hurt pretty badly. It’s been ongoing ever since the wreck, but this last year it was noticeably worse. From early autumn on I started having severe pain in my hand and streaks of pain across my shoulder. I also started noticing new issues; headaches, dizziness, pains in my hip and legs, and pain in my lower back. I went to my doctor and she started doing tests on me, she also noted that I was running high blood pressure. She gave me several different prescriptions over a few months, but by January, things were getting really bad. Dizziness and headaches worst of all. My doctor sent me to a neurologist for further testing.
The Neurologist had me go for an MRI of my back first thing. Then a couple of days later he ran a battery of tests, including shocking muscles in my arms legs and back, sticking needles in the same muscle groups and he sent me for another MRI, this time of my brain. A couple of days later, he calls me and tells me to come in right away.
                That’s a scary moment, when a doctor (especially a brain doctor) tells you that you need to come in and see him right away.
My wife and I went to see him that day. At this point we are thinking maybe some nerve damage or something. We get there and he comes in and says, “You have a Chiari Malformation and Syringomyelia.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Basically, it means the back of your brain is protruding out below your skull and pressing into your spinal cord. You need to have surgery very soon.”
Hold on! I’m expecting maybe nerve damage and he’s talking about brain surgery? To be honest, I don’t really remember a lot about the rest of that meeting, but fortunately my wife was there to take notes. He placed me on Restricted Duty at work - no driving. Seeing as I’m a driver by profession, that means - Off Work. I go to my boss explain everything to her and fill out some paperwork, she agrees that there are no light duty assignment and sends me home.
A week later we go meet the neurosurgeon who is going to perform the operation. He talks to us, explains the situation in further detail, answers our questions, and then schedules the surgery for early the next week.
It was really amazing to me how quickly this happened. I mean, yes, I was having problems for a few years beforehand, but I went from; thinking I, maybe, had some nerve damage in my hand and shoulder to someone saying “brain surgery” to actually going under the knife in three weeks.
I spent four days in the hospital, thankfully, with no complications to speak of. Then they sent me home to recuperate.
                I’ve read the literature, the websites, and other Chiarians blogs. I pretty much thought I knew what to expect, but I guess, until you go through it you can’t really know.
                I can tell that I’m getting better to an extent. I’ve been keeping a blog of my own on a more or less weekly basis. Day to day, I don’t really notice a difference. I have good days and bad days, but over a weeks time I could notice that I was getting stronger and could eat more and get around better. I realize that it’s only been three weeks now, but I can’t help but be concerned because my dizziness hasn’t seemed to have gotten any better. This is what the big issue was in the first place, the reason I can’t drive or work. I can get around with a cane, but only for short distances. I get lightheaded and drained making a trip to the grocery store.
                It does say in the literature that it can take a year or so for all the symptoms to go away. So, I guess I just have to be patient. I’m finding that to be the hardest part of all this, waiting to get better.