His father, Ade T. Milhorat, was also a famous neurologist/scientist/researcher. He was one of the founders of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the organization that you know from the telethons run by Jerry Lewis every year. The elder Milhorat was one of the leaders in researching Muscular Dystrophy. He died a few years ago at the age of 98 and was still doing research. He published a reserach paper with his son on Chiari and syringomyelia when he was in his 90's!
I would say that we were very lucky to find Dr. Milhorat.
As you can see, Michel's head is healing very nicely. The stiches are out and there is no swelling or sign of infection. Michel is also doing much better neurologically. She can now stand straight with her eyes closed without falling over. She also felt pain in her hand when she touched something hot for the first time in months. She still can't walk a straight line but things are definitely looking up.
I brought Michel home at about 7 PM. Her potassium levels were good and she had no fever so they decided to let her loose. It's good to have her home. I just want to add at this point that everyone at North Shore Manhassett was wonderful. The staff there was as professional and as dedicated as you would ever hope for.
Michel wasn't released so we are hoping for tomorrow. She has been running a fever and has a sore throat so they might keep her until Wednesday. She has her IV out so she can walk around without lugging the pole with her. They removed the bandage from the back of her head so you can 
I only got to see Michel for about 30 minutes today. I had hoped that Michel's brother would be able to watch the kids but they had plans so they could only watch them for an hour which gave me about 30 minutes at the hospital. Michel wasn't feeling well. She has a cold and has been running fevers on and off. Her potassium levels were low again so she had to get more IV's. We walked three times around the floor and she wasn't worn out. Cindy had complained about the IV stand because the wheels wouldn't turn so they got Michel a new one. It was much easier to push it around the floor when the wheels actually move. We are still hoping Michel will be getting out tomorrow but with the potassium levels and the fevers we aren't overly optimistic. Michel's parents should be back tomorrow.
Michel has been running slight fevers off and on all day so she doesn't feel quite as well as she did. The doctor came in and he said that she is doing very well and is on course to be booted out on Monday. We walked around the floor twice while I was there. Our friend Cindy dropped in to see Michel. And Eileen's flowers finally were delivered... and they weren't dead. Actually, they were very pretty. 
I visited Michel after work. She is doing great. I brought her some chicken soup and a bagel. It is amazing how quickly she is recovering from the surgery. She said the pain is very mild. The worst pain is that she had to get an IV with potassium and that apparently burns like hell going in. She has a fat lip. Apparently the anesthesiologist screwed up and Michel bit her lip during the surgery. Michel's surgeon, Dr. Milhorat, was not pleased.
Michel now has three zippers in her head. The big one is under that bandage. She got up for a little bit while I was there and we walked around the hallways. Michel's sister, Eileen, sent flowers but they got lost somewhere in the hospital so we looked around for them. No luck. There were some dead flowers at the nurse's station but they weren't from Eileen.
I spoke with Michel on the phone and she is feeling pretty good considering what she has gone through. She has normal post-operative pain but none of the chiari pain that she has been living with since July. I won't get to see her until tonight because I 
A perfect surgery! The operation was 7 hours long but everything went perfectly. They repaired the base of Michel's skull and she now has a plate in her head. I'm not sure what exactly was involved but it was very extensive. The doctors who performed the surgery are the director and associate director at the 
This is Michel sitting in the kitchen waiting for it to be time to head off to the hospital. Surprisingly, Michel was not the least bit nervous. She was just anxious to have the surgery so the pain that she has had since her fall back in July would go away.
Here is Michel waiting at the hospital for the surgery. She is listening to 
The surgery was over in almost exactly three hours which is what the doctor told us it would take. It went perfectly and I got to see Michel in recovery about an hour after the surgery was over. Michel's first words when I saw her in recovery were, "I love my shunt." (This is a reference to the Julia Sweeney movie, 
Michel was brought up to the room fairly quickly. She is sore but in good spirits. And she is bald. Completely bald. Totally bald. But she is still beautiful. The next surgery is scheduled for 7:30 AM on Thursday. 
Tomorrow is the big day. Michel is getting her head chopped open and her brain messed around with. Tomorrow is actually shunt day. Thursday they go back in again to fool around with the base of her brain. I think they need to do the shunt first to relieve the pressure in her brain otherwise when they do the other surgery her head will explode like a can of Coke that has been shaken up. Or something like that.
"To criticise a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous but to criticise their religion - that is a right. That is a freedom. The freedom to criticise ideas - any ideas even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. And the law which attempts to say you can criticise or ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed. It all points to the promotion of the idea that there should be a right not to be offended. But in my view the right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended. The right to ridicule is far more important to society than any right not to be ridiculed because one in my view represents openness - and the other represents oppression." - Rowan Atkinson, speaking out about the latest attempt to criminalize speech in Britain. 
