6 Days Post-Op
I went in for my first post operative doctor visit today. the doctor says I'm making excellent progress and I am well ahead of schedule for recovery. My ROM is excellent in all directions. Based on the advanced degeneration the doctor found during surgery, he said that I might have gone on for years with minor symptoms and the due to a fall or even a minor automobile accident could have ended up with a catastrophic failure and permanent disability.
The doctor gave me photo copies of my post surgical X-Rays and if I get a chance in the next day or two, I'll post them for you all to see the work done.
I'm now up to walking about 2 miles a day. I walk a mile in the morning on the treadmill, and I walk a mile with my wife around local lake. I wear my collar when doing any exercise.
Since I'm still not allowed to drive or lift more than 10 lbs, I do about 20 repititions of simple Karate blocks with a 5lb weight. This hurts and really works up a sweat, but I'm now down to two muscle relaxants and two pain pills for the whole day.
I have my first physical therapy appointment next week.
I went in for my first post operative doctor visit today. the doctor says I'm making excellent progress and I am well ahead of schedule for recovery. My ROM is excellent in all directions. Based on the advanced degeneration the doctor found during surgery, he said that I might have gone on for years with minor symptoms and the due to a fall or even a minor automobile accident could have ended up with a catastrophic failure and permanent disability.
The doctor gave me photo copies of my post surgical X-Rays and if I get a chance in the next day or two, I'll post them for you all to see the work done.
I'm now up to walking about 2 miles a day. I walk a mile in the morning on the treadmill, and I walk a mile with my wife around local lake. I wear my collar when doing any exercise.
Since I'm still not allowed to drive or lift more than 10 lbs, I do about 20 repititions of simple Karate blocks with a 5lb weight. This hurts and really works up a sweat, but I'm now down to two muscle relaxants and two pain pills for the whole day.
I have my first physical therapy appointment next week.
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14 Days Post-Op
Sorry for the gap in posting, but things have gone really well. I have my first physical therapy appointment tomorrow and I will let you all know how that goes.
At this point, I'm basically off of my pain meds. I want to stress that my doctor stresses that I am a-typical. My condition was caught very early on and it appears I have very minor nerve damage and being as active as I was prior to surgery has helped remarkably. I am currently up to walking 2+ miles per day and some light weight work (5lb) with my arms.
From a personal perspective, I must say that I feel the activity, while very uncomfortable in the beginning, has been exceedingly beneficial.
As a recap, I experienced almost immediate relief from the left shoulder/arm/hand pain, and a marked decrease in the numbness in my left hand. I have been experiencing increased "discomfort" in my neck and shoulder muscles, but as I expressed above, I was told this was to be expected (Ice packs really seem to help this!!!). I'm also only wearing a collar when riding in a car or when I'm out in public.
My Blood Pressure has come down to a very manageable level - 138/88 in comparison to my pre-op numbers of 165/117 (although I did get to 159/98 the day of surgery - just squeaked by).
I am also back to work, part time. I have the ability and luxury of working from home to the mental activity I believe also helps.
My perspective is that the ACDF surgery is not done to, necessarily, repair damage done by disc/vertebral and bone spur damage, but to stop damage from progressing and to alleviate the some of the symptoms of the damage.
Remember, this is major surgery. They have operated on our spines and in some cases mucked about with the nerve roots and spinal cord. This causes long term trauma to the body and can take a great deal of time to recover from. Everyone's experience seems slightly different depending on how long they've had the symptoms/condition, their Age, their physical condition prior to surgery, their support system after surgery and the extent of their surgery.
My surgery turned out to be much more extensive than first anticipated (discoctomy of C6 and C7 with fusion and insertion of a plate screwed to the vertebrae, relieving pressure on the spinal cord at C7, removal of osteophytes -bone spurs around the nerve roots of C5, C6 and C7 and removal of calcification around the forimona - nerve root channels), yet my recovery seems to be much better than people with only one fusion.
It appears that my recovery is a bit atypical. I guess my point is everyone is different and everyone's recovery is going to be different. Don't give up hope and my advice, if you are contemplating the surgery would be - DO IT! Even if you take a long time to recover and even if you don't get the kind if results I have, you will at least have stopped or slowed the progression of the degeneration and the nerve damage.
I'll let you all know what the physical therapist says tomorrow.
Sorry for the gap in posting, but things have gone really well. I have my first physical therapy appointment tomorrow and I will let you all know how that goes.
At this point, I'm basically off of my pain meds. I want to stress that my doctor stresses that I am a-typical. My condition was caught very early on and it appears I have very minor nerve damage and being as active as I was prior to surgery has helped remarkably. I am currently up to walking 2+ miles per day and some light weight work (5lb) with my arms.
From a personal perspective, I must say that I feel the activity, while very uncomfortable in the beginning, has been exceedingly beneficial.
As a recap, I experienced almost immediate relief from the left shoulder/arm/hand pain, and a marked decrease in the numbness in my left hand. I have been experiencing increased "discomfort" in my neck and shoulder muscles, but as I expressed above, I was told this was to be expected (Ice packs really seem to help this!!!). I'm also only wearing a collar when riding in a car or when I'm out in public.
My Blood Pressure has come down to a very manageable level - 138/88 in comparison to my pre-op numbers of 165/117 (although I did get to 159/98 the day of surgery - just squeaked by).
I am also back to work, part time. I have the ability and luxury of working from home to the mental activity I believe also helps.
My perspective is that the ACDF surgery is not done to, necessarily, repair damage done by disc/vertebral and bone spur damage, but to stop damage from progressing and to alleviate the some of the symptoms of the damage.
Remember, this is major surgery. They have operated on our spines and in some cases mucked about with the nerve roots and spinal cord. This causes long term trauma to the body and can take a great deal of time to recover from. Everyone's experience seems slightly different depending on how long they've had the symptoms/condition, their Age, their physical condition prior to surgery, their support system after surgery and the extent of their surgery.
My surgery turned out to be much more extensive than first anticipated (discoctomy of C6 and C7 with fusion and insertion of a plate screwed to the vertebrae, relieving pressure on the spinal cord at C7, removal of osteophytes -bone spurs around the nerve roots of C5, C6 and C7 and removal of calcification around the forimona - nerve root channels), yet my recovery seems to be much better than people with only one fusion.
It appears that my recovery is a bit atypical. I guess my point is everyone is different and everyone's recovery is going to be different. Don't give up hope and my advice, if you are contemplating the surgery would be - DO IT! Even if you take a long time to recover and even if you don't get the kind if results I have, you will at least have stopped or slowed the progression of the degeneration and the nerve damage.
I'll let you all know what the physical therapist says tomorrow.
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i had my acdf c567 in oct 2008, at first actually immediately after surgery i had feeling back in my fingers, that was great, the recovery was slow but normal and according to the doctor there were no problems, today june 2009 im having pain in my neck where the plate actually is all the way down to my elbows (both), the pain is so bad i actually cry sometimes, i to am or was an active 36-now 37 year old male, i went back to doctor and he said it was my rotator cuffs in my shoulders, and i should take aleve of course my shoulders arent where the pain is but i took 60 of those aleves in 2 days didnt even knock a dent in the pain. if i knew this was a possibility i would have never done it.
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Hi Tbrien. How are you doing now? It has been more then a month, and as I could read here, you have posted your condition in many details. I think that many will find this very useful and helpful. Personally I didn't experience any kind of these problems, and I can not relate to any of your condition. But I it would be very nice from you to post your one month experience.
In your last post you said you are doing well, I hope it has been like that ever since. I wish you good recovery.
In your last post you said you are doing well, I hope it has been like that ever since. I wish you good recovery.
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6 Weeks Post-Op
Apologies for not posting sooner. Thank you for your comments. I've actually been very busy getting back to work. I've been back at work, full time, for three weeks now.
I began my Physical therapy in my third week. I was set up for 2 sessions a week for six weeks. In my first session, my therapist evaluated my neck/head Range Of Motion, my posture, etc. She was very pleasantly surprised that I had, in her words, almost complete range of motion and virtually no pain. We worked through arm and shoulder movement and she quickly found that I had muscle "knots" and soreness on the left side. This is the same side that my symptoms occurred on and she said that this can be normal. She was very happy that I was off all narcotics and she reiterated what my doctor told me, which was not to where my collar other than driving or being out in a crowd. She said that, from her perspective, a good deal of my progress was because I wasn't wearing my collar 7X24. At this time, I was taking extra strength Tylenol
about three times a day. She gave me several exercises to do to increase my ROM and help my neck and shoulder muscles. She also said that I didn't need two session a week, so we set up one session a week.
Between my first and second PT appointment, I actually made a plane trip by myself from Colorado to California for a class. I wore my hard collar while driving, through the airport, but not in my hotel room or in class. As I'm still not allowed to lift more than 10lbs so I had to ask for help multiple times with my bag. I began having soreness between my shoulder blades as the day went on but, all went well.
In my second appointment, my PT worked on my shoulders and had me practice some exercises called Job, after a Dr. Job, exercises that are used to stretch and strengthen the muscles between the should blades.
I have my third appointment today. At this point, I do have some, minor, intermittent pain in my left arm and numbness in my left thumb. I've discovered, by practicing the exercises that my PT gave me that I actually stop the pain and reduce the numbness. I surmise, and will verify today, that I have some muscles that are pressing on the nerve root that was impacted prior to the surgery.
The only problem I've really had is keeping my self to getting back to physical things slowly. Most of the time, I feel better than I have in a very long time. I was helping my wife clean the house and did too much twisting and reaching. I ended up having to take a muscle relaxant to get to sleep. My wife and co-workers, for the most part, have been great at keeping "honest".
In summary, I continue to do well and I'm down to about one Tylenol a day, and many days not even that. I do have some intermittent, very minor, pain and twinges in my left should and arm. Every once in a while I get them in my right arm, also. Compared to what I had before surgery, this is very livable and I would expect it after knowing that I had compressed nerves that were impacted by bone spurs. I realize that those nerves have been damaged. As I mentioned before, the doctor verified that symptoms that I had been putting down to torn muscles or pulled ligaments, for years, were because of nerve compression and bone spurs, so I would expect some long term or even permanent effects. If this is all I have to live with, compared to what I was going through, then I am incredibly grateful.
Thank you all for your support. I'll update again in about a week and let you know how I'm doing.
Apologies for not posting sooner. Thank you for your comments. I've actually been very busy getting back to work. I've been back at work, full time, for three weeks now.
I began my Physical therapy in my third week. I was set up for 2 sessions a week for six weeks. In my first session, my therapist evaluated my neck/head Range Of Motion, my posture, etc. She was very pleasantly surprised that I had, in her words, almost complete range of motion and virtually no pain. We worked through arm and shoulder movement and she quickly found that I had muscle "knots" and soreness on the left side. This is the same side that my symptoms occurred on and she said that this can be normal. She was very happy that I was off all narcotics and she reiterated what my doctor told me, which was not to where my collar other than driving or being out in a crowd. She said that, from her perspective, a good deal of my progress was because I wasn't wearing my collar 7X24. At this time, I was taking extra strength Tylenol
about three times a day. She gave me several exercises to do to increase my ROM and help my neck and shoulder muscles. She also said that I didn't need two session a week, so we set up one session a week.
Between my first and second PT appointment, I actually made a plane trip by myself from Colorado to California for a class. I wore my hard collar while driving, through the airport, but not in my hotel room or in class. As I'm still not allowed to lift more than 10lbs so I had to ask for help multiple times with my bag. I began having soreness between my shoulder blades as the day went on but, all went well.
In my second appointment, my PT worked on my shoulders and had me practice some exercises called Job, after a Dr. Job, exercises that are used to stretch and strengthen the muscles between the should blades.
I have my third appointment today. At this point, I do have some, minor, intermittent pain in my left arm and numbness in my left thumb. I've discovered, by practicing the exercises that my PT gave me that I actually stop the pain and reduce the numbness. I surmise, and will verify today, that I have some muscles that are pressing on the nerve root that was impacted prior to the surgery.
The only problem I've really had is keeping my self to getting back to physical things slowly. Most of the time, I feel better than I have in a very long time. I was helping my wife clean the house and did too much twisting and reaching. I ended up having to take a muscle relaxant to get to sleep. My wife and co-workers, for the most part, have been great at keeping "honest".
In summary, I continue to do well and I'm down to about one Tylenol a day, and many days not even that. I do have some intermittent, very minor, pain and twinges in my left should and arm. Every once in a while I get them in my right arm, also. Compared to what I had before surgery, this is very livable and I would expect it after knowing that I had compressed nerves that were impacted by bone spurs. I realize that those nerves have been damaged. As I mentioned before, the doctor verified that symptoms that I had been putting down to torn muscles or pulled ligaments, for years, were because of nerve compression and bone spurs, so I would expect some long term or even permanent effects. If this is all I have to live with, compared to what I was going through, then I am incredibly grateful.
Thank you all for your support. I'll update again in about a week and let you know how I'm doing.
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My appointment with Ortho Surgeon is one week tomorrow. Your post has made me feel much more confident that I can survive this very nasty procedure. I will post my details after my appointment. Thanks again! RobinL
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You have mentioned some exercises for home to help you with your ROM and neck and shoulder muscles. What exactly do you do?
This is not simple thing and you have to be careful when performing it. But good thing is that you have positive outcome.
If you want maybe you can search for some exercises in Physical activities forum.
https://www.steadyhealth.com/cat_index.php?c=4&cname=Physical_activities
There could be someone that knows some more exercises for you condition.
This is not simple thing and you have to be careful when performing it. But good thing is that you have positive outcome.
If you want maybe you can search for some exercises in Physical activities forum.
https://www.steadyhealth.com/cat_index.php?c=4&cname=Physical_activities
There could be someone that knows some more exercises for you condition.
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Thank you for the suggestion. You are absolutely right, at this stage you have to very careful of the exercises you are doing and the activities you are participating in. The exercises I am doing are the one my physical therapist gave me to do to increase my mobility.
So, here's my latest update:
8 weeks post-op.
I had an appointment last week with my surgeon. I had X-Rays right before my appointment so that he could evaluate my recovery progress.
The doctor said that my progress was excellent and I appear to be doing very well. He released me from any physical restrictions and said that the only way I could mess up his work at this point was to "fall off of a building". :D
He also said that my major concern, at this point, was muscle spasms and that I should still be very careful and use common sense. But, I'm cleared for bike riding, bowling, etc.
I asked several questions during the appointment and this is sort of the way it went:
Q: I'm not really experiencing any where near the discomfort or pain that I was before the surgery, but every once in a while I notice a twinge or shot of minor pain down my arm. Is this normal?
A: Yes. Keep in mind the nerve that runs down the left side, where you experienced the most discomfort, is damaged and still inflamed and is going to take a long time to heal. Add to that the fact that the muscles in your neck and shoulder have been stretched are can spasm, there by pressing on that nerve, it's to be expected.
Q: Can I expect this to go away at some point?
A: I would expect so, but it's going to take awhile. Depending on the level of damage that was done, you may have some level of discomfort ongoing, but it should not be like before the surgery.
Q: I still have a bit of numbness that comes and goes in my left thumb, is this caused by the same thing?
A: Yes. Again, you might consider that nerve as the "raw nerve". As the nerve heals and your muscles get adjusted, I would expect the numbness to decrease or ultimately go away completely. You can take a muscle relaxant if you feel you need it, and Tylenol, but don't take any Aspirin or Ibuprofen.
Since that meeting, I've actually been bowling and to two of my martial arts classes. The only issue I've had was a fair amount of discomfort after the second class (two days ago). I took a muscle relaxant before bed and felt fine in the morning.
So, two months after surgery and I'm feeling great. I'm having no significant problems or pain. I do still have some "twinges" an numbness on the left side, but it's transient and doesn't affect my mobility or performance. Increasing my activity level is difficult, but necessary. It's difficult because it increases the muscle spasms, but it's necessary to get the muscles in shape.
One thing I've seen a lot of people talk about, and that concerns me, is the long term affects. Many people report having severe pain 9 months to a year after surgery. I'll be watching my self and reporting back periodically to let you know how the long term effects are. Right now, I would HIGHLY recommend this Surgery for anyone thinking about it.
So, here's my latest update:
8 weeks post-op.
I had an appointment last week with my surgeon. I had X-Rays right before my appointment so that he could evaluate my recovery progress.
The doctor said that my progress was excellent and I appear to be doing very well. He released me from any physical restrictions and said that the only way I could mess up his work at this point was to "fall off of a building". :D
He also said that my major concern, at this point, was muscle spasms and that I should still be very careful and use common sense. But, I'm cleared for bike riding, bowling, etc.
I asked several questions during the appointment and this is sort of the way it went:
Q: I'm not really experiencing any where near the discomfort or pain that I was before the surgery, but every once in a while I notice a twinge or shot of minor pain down my arm. Is this normal?
A: Yes. Keep in mind the nerve that runs down the left side, where you experienced the most discomfort, is damaged and still inflamed and is going to take a long time to heal. Add to that the fact that the muscles in your neck and shoulder have been stretched are can spasm, there by pressing on that nerve, it's to be expected.
Q: Can I expect this to go away at some point?
A: I would expect so, but it's going to take awhile. Depending on the level of damage that was done, you may have some level of discomfort ongoing, but it should not be like before the surgery.
Q: I still have a bit of numbness that comes and goes in my left thumb, is this caused by the same thing?
A: Yes. Again, you might consider that nerve as the "raw nerve". As the nerve heals and your muscles get adjusted, I would expect the numbness to decrease or ultimately go away completely. You can take a muscle relaxant if you feel you need it, and Tylenol, but don't take any Aspirin or Ibuprofen.
Since that meeting, I've actually been bowling and to two of my martial arts classes. The only issue I've had was a fair amount of discomfort after the second class (two days ago). I took a muscle relaxant before bed and felt fine in the morning.
So, two months after surgery and I'm feeling great. I'm having no significant problems or pain. I do still have some "twinges" an numbness on the left side, but it's transient and doesn't affect my mobility or performance. Increasing my activity level is difficult, but necessary. It's difficult because it increases the muscle spasms, but it's necessary to get the muscles in shape.
One thing I've seen a lot of people talk about, and that concerns me, is the long term affects. Many people report having severe pain 9 months to a year after surgery. I'll be watching my self and reporting back periodically to let you know how the long term effects are. Right now, I would HIGHLY recommend this Surgery for anyone thinking about it.
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Hi Brien,
Great news. You have done really well and seeing that you went for bowling and martial art class is just very good recovery. I agree with you when you tell that getting muscles in shape should be your main goal. Lot of people have pain long after two motnh and it is hard for most of them to be active.
So if you have any suggestion for activities that you done from week one till now, please share.
Great news. You have done really well and seeing that you went for bowling and martial art class is just very good recovery. I agree with you when you tell that getting muscles in shape should be your main goal. Lot of people have pain long after two motnh and it is hard for most of them to be active.
So if you have any suggestion for activities that you done from week one till now, please share.
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I'd be happy to share anything that I can.
I feel the most important thing was movement. I was fairly active (bike riding, bowling, martial arts, long walking) before the intense pain set in, prior to surgery, and was fortunate that my surgery was fairly quick (about 8 weeks) after the onset of the severe pain. As I've explained before, I had been having symptoms for years, but always put it down to something else. So, basically what I'm saying is what while I wasn't exactly an athlete before surgery, I wasn't a "couch potato" either. This is important because it can help your recovery after the surgery.
After the surgery, I was up and standing in the recovery room and within about 5 hours after surgery I was making trips to the bathroom on my own and down the hall and back and later that night, about 100 yards to X-Ray and back. By the second day after surgery, I was walking 1/4 mile and withing about 5 days I was walking a mile or more a day. I wasn't trying to win any competitions and just took it easy. You have to push yourself a little bit more every day, but you also have to "listen" to your body. Doing too much, too soon can be just as harmful as not doing anything.
By the end of the first week after surgery, I began doing some very light weight lifting, about 2 to 5 lbs. I did some bicep curls and tricep kick-back exercises. This help a lot as it got the blood moving through my shoulders and arms more than walking could and it helped to maintain my muscle tone.
By the end of the second week, I was driving - while wearing my collar and pretty much off drugs. I was up to walking well over a mile a day at a pretty good pace (4 mph).
Weeks 2 through 6, I went to 3 Physical Therapy appointments. At every appointment my therapist gave me some exercises to do to my own. One of the reasons my therapist said I made such progress was because I was religious about doing the exercises she gave me. I was really amazed at how much difference they made. I'm reluctant to share the exact exercises, as they may not be recommended by your doctor or therapist do to different factors. What I will say is, regardless of what exercises they give you and how uncomfortable they make you - do them. Most of us don't want to do things that are uncomfortable or cause us pain, but in the case of the exercises the therapist will give you it's really a necessary pain or discomfort.
I can also say that, for me, the position of my shoulders is really critical to how much discomfort I feel in my shoulders and down my arm. A set of exercises that I was given, called Job exercises, help to isolate the should blades and teach you to move them in and down (didn't know I could do that!). This take a lot of pressure off the nerve, for me.
Perhaps it would be helpful to everyone if I illustrated where I am today as opposed to where I was before the surgery.
Before Surgery:
Decreased Sensitivity on the left side of my torso (arm and shoulder)
Dramatic decrease in strength in my left arm, growing more pronounced as time went on.
INTENSE, debilitating, pain down my left arm - required constant medication to manage.
Pronounced numbness from my left mid forearm to the tip of my left thumb
Right before surgery I began to have pain in my shoulder, upper back and neck as well as headaches.
Diagnosis:
Crushed and herniated disc impacting the spinal cord at C6/C7
Herniated disc at C5/C6
Vertebra degeneration of C5, C6, and C7
Stenosis at the nerve roots at C5, C6 and C7 (Foraminal Stenosis)
What was found during Surgery:
Everything that was noted above plus -
Major Calcification of the damaged discs
Osteophyites (bone spurs) into the nerve roots and spine.
Calcification across the vertabrae
After Surgery:
Immediate Relief of debilitating pain
Immediate return of sensation on the left side
Rapid return of strength on the left side
Immediate reduction of the numbness in left forearm and thumb
8 Weeks after Surgery:
I still have some discomfort, but I would expect to after a major surgery that affected nerves and muscles
I do still have some transient pain in my left arm, but nothing anywhere near as severe as before surgery. In fact, I usually don't even have to take a tylenol for it. I just change the position of my shoulders.
I have, what seems to me, full mobility and range of motion in my neck and shoulders.
I have complete return of sensation on my left side except for a small area from my left wrist into my thumb. Again, nowhere near as severe as before the surgery.
I consider myself to be pretty well fully mobile and active, but not fully recovered. I would expect full recovery (healing of the internal tissues and fusion of the vertebrae) to take about six months, at least.
As I've said, I would attribute this to these things:
My physical condition before the surgery (active and moderately fit)
How quickly I was diagnosed (within 2 months of the onset of severe pain)
My weight before the surgery (I was overweight but not obese - about 20lbs overweight)
I'm a non-smoker
The expertise of my surgeon (check them out!!! Get a second opinion!!!)
My activity level after surgery (I got moving quickly. Did some activity everyday and slowly increased my activity level - I'm still not back to where I was before surgery - and religiously follow your therapists instructions)
I hope this is helpful to everyone. Please let me know if you have questions or I can help in anyway.
I feel the most important thing was movement. I was fairly active (bike riding, bowling, martial arts, long walking) before the intense pain set in, prior to surgery, and was fortunate that my surgery was fairly quick (about 8 weeks) after the onset of the severe pain. As I've explained before, I had been having symptoms for years, but always put it down to something else. So, basically what I'm saying is what while I wasn't exactly an athlete before surgery, I wasn't a "couch potato" either. This is important because it can help your recovery after the surgery.
After the surgery, I was up and standing in the recovery room and within about 5 hours after surgery I was making trips to the bathroom on my own and down the hall and back and later that night, about 100 yards to X-Ray and back. By the second day after surgery, I was walking 1/4 mile and withing about 5 days I was walking a mile or more a day. I wasn't trying to win any competitions and just took it easy. You have to push yourself a little bit more every day, but you also have to "listen" to your body. Doing too much, too soon can be just as harmful as not doing anything.
By the end of the first week after surgery, I began doing some very light weight lifting, about 2 to 5 lbs. I did some bicep curls and tricep kick-back exercises. This help a lot as it got the blood moving through my shoulders and arms more than walking could and it helped to maintain my muscle tone.
By the end of the second week, I was driving - while wearing my collar and pretty much off drugs. I was up to walking well over a mile a day at a pretty good pace (4 mph).
Weeks 2 through 6, I went to 3 Physical Therapy appointments. At every appointment my therapist gave me some exercises to do to my own. One of the reasons my therapist said I made such progress was because I was religious about doing the exercises she gave me. I was really amazed at how much difference they made. I'm reluctant to share the exact exercises, as they may not be recommended by your doctor or therapist do to different factors. What I will say is, regardless of what exercises they give you and how uncomfortable they make you - do them. Most of us don't want to do things that are uncomfortable or cause us pain, but in the case of the exercises the therapist will give you it's really a necessary pain or discomfort.
I can also say that, for me, the position of my shoulders is really critical to how much discomfort I feel in my shoulders and down my arm. A set of exercises that I was given, called Job exercises, help to isolate the should blades and teach you to move them in and down (didn't know I could do that!). This take a lot of pressure off the nerve, for me.
Perhaps it would be helpful to everyone if I illustrated where I am today as opposed to where I was before the surgery.
Before Surgery:
Decreased Sensitivity on the left side of my torso (arm and shoulder)
Dramatic decrease in strength in my left arm, growing more pronounced as time went on.
INTENSE, debilitating, pain down my left arm - required constant medication to manage.
Pronounced numbness from my left mid forearm to the tip of my left thumb
Right before surgery I began to have pain in my shoulder, upper back and neck as well as headaches.
Diagnosis:
Crushed and herniated disc impacting the spinal cord at C6/C7
Herniated disc at C5/C6
Vertebra degeneration of C5, C6, and C7
Stenosis at the nerve roots at C5, C6 and C7 (Foraminal Stenosis)
What was found during Surgery:
Everything that was noted above plus -
Major Calcification of the damaged discs
Osteophyites (bone spurs) into the nerve roots and spine.
Calcification across the vertabrae
After Surgery:
Immediate Relief of debilitating pain
Immediate return of sensation on the left side
Rapid return of strength on the left side
Immediate reduction of the numbness in left forearm and thumb
8 Weeks after Surgery:
I still have some discomfort, but I would expect to after a major surgery that affected nerves and muscles
I do still have some transient pain in my left arm, but nothing anywhere near as severe as before surgery. In fact, I usually don't even have to take a tylenol for it. I just change the position of my shoulders.
I have, what seems to me, full mobility and range of motion in my neck and shoulders.
I have complete return of sensation on my left side except for a small area from my left wrist into my thumb. Again, nowhere near as severe as before the surgery.
I consider myself to be pretty well fully mobile and active, but not fully recovered. I would expect full recovery (healing of the internal tissues and fusion of the vertebrae) to take about six months, at least.
As I've said, I would attribute this to these things:
My physical condition before the surgery (active and moderately fit)
How quickly I was diagnosed (within 2 months of the onset of severe pain)
My weight before the surgery (I was overweight but not obese - about 20lbs overweight)
I'm a non-smoker
The expertise of my surgeon (check them out!!! Get a second opinion!!!)
My activity level after surgery (I got moving quickly. Did some activity everyday and slowly increased my activity level - I'm still not back to where I was before surgery - and religiously follow your therapists instructions)
I hope this is helpful to everyone. Please let me know if you have questions or I can help in anyway.
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Wow, that post was very extensive! Thank you for sharing so much information about your condition with us and I think it was very helpful. May I ask what compelled you to post it? I always like to know what drives people to be helpful about stuff like this. Can you enlighten me? Thanks!
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I'll Try. I think what I've identified as my motivation from the beginning has been to put as much information in one place as possible. When I began to research my possible surgery (I have an engineering and science back ground and I have a tendency toward research), I found lots of very scary accounts of people with problems and accounts of people who weren't having many, if any, problems. What I didn't see much of were accounts from before the surgery, through the surgery and recovery with specific information about their condition before and after the surgery, how complications were managed, questions they thought to ask their doctor or Physical therapist. This kind of information would, I thought, be helpful to others who might be considering this very scary procedure. Everyone "freaks out" a bit when they are presented with notion that a doctor wants to cut them open, remove disks, grind away bone spurs, put bone in place of the discs and screw it all together with a metal plate. I wanted to tell people as much about my experience, good or bad, as possible to help them with their experience and in making a decision as to whether to have the surgery or not.
When I started making these posts I had no idea how the surgery would go, what would happen after or how long my recovery would take. I've been incredibly fortunate that I've had virtually no complications, and aside from some expected muscle spasms (which feel like muscle cramps) in my shoulders and neck, I'm virtually back to normal.
When I started making these posts I had no idea how the surgery would go, what would happen after or how long my recovery would take. I've been incredibly fortunate that I've had virtually no complications, and aside from some expected muscle spasms (which feel like muscle cramps) in my shoulders and neck, I'm virtually back to normal.
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One thing is when a doctor tells you how will your surgery go and what you can expect after surgery, and a complete other thing is when you read a persons post who had experienced it. You feel much relaxed that you are not alone out there and that you can talk to someone about this. You have written a great post. And with it you showed your positive story.
I think that many people have problems after this and you can be happy just to have little muscle spasms. :-)
You had a pretty healthy life before this and you listed a few things that you think are very important for your good recovery, and one of them was activities after surgery.
Do you think that everybody can and should be active after surgery?
I think some people just can't make them selfs do anything. I think that this is causing them more problems in their recovery.
I think that many people have problems after this and you can be happy just to have little muscle spasms. :-)
You had a pretty healthy life before this and you listed a few things that you think are very important for your good recovery, and one of them was activities after surgery.
Do you think that everybody can and should be active after surgery?
I think some people just can't make them selfs do anything. I think that this is causing them more problems in their recovery.
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dark red-
Have you had a spinal surgery?
I was very active. My job had me literally running my hiny off with lots of lifting, bending, leg squats, etc. I did all my own yard and housework on top of all of this.
When I had to go on medical leave because of the pain I was faithful in walking 2 miles everyday.
Well it's been almost 4 yrs since my surgery. I have muscle spasms, arthiritis, numbness that is out of this world. It is actually worse now than before ACDF c5-c6 surgery.
Three days after surgery I tried to take my daily walk. I made it about one block. I did gradually push myself to go farther. I can't tell you how my neck and arms felt after walking and I was so exhausted I felt like I had ran a marathonand in pain. Any vibration even that of your feet hitting the pavement left me in excruciating pain. I have had PT 3 times, never gaining full use of my neck along with muscle spasms and numbness never going away.
Some people recover nicely from this type of surgery others do not. I am happy for the ones that do. But for the ones of us that don't we suffer a pain that is hard to describe.
I'm not sure how I feel about your comment "some people just can't make them selfs do anything. This is causing them more problems in their recovery".
Please don't be so quick to judge....I'd give anything to be back to my normal, active, pain free self.
Have you had a spinal surgery?
I was very active. My job had me literally running my hiny off with lots of lifting, bending, leg squats, etc. I did all my own yard and housework on top of all of this.
When I had to go on medical leave because of the pain I was faithful in walking 2 miles everyday.
Well it's been almost 4 yrs since my surgery. I have muscle spasms, arthiritis, numbness that is out of this world. It is actually worse now than before ACDF c5-c6 surgery.
Three days after surgery I tried to take my daily walk. I made it about one block. I did gradually push myself to go farther. I can't tell you how my neck and arms felt after walking and I was so exhausted I felt like I had ran a marathonand in pain. Any vibration even that of your feet hitting the pavement left me in excruciating pain. I have had PT 3 times, never gaining full use of my neck along with muscle spasms and numbness never going away.
Some people recover nicely from this type of surgery others do not. I am happy for the ones that do. But for the ones of us that don't we suffer a pain that is hard to describe.
I'm not sure how I feel about your comment "some people just can't make them selfs do anything. This is causing them more problems in their recovery".
Please don't be so quick to judge....I'd give anything to be back to my normal, active, pain free self.
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