The night before my surgery, 27 July 2009 I was on this sight and only one person had anything positive to say about their surgery.
I would say for as serious a surgery as this my surgery went really great. The fusion was from C-4 through C-6. Was only in the hospital over night. If you are interested in contacting the surgeon who did my procedure, I would higly recommend him. His name is as follows:
Joseph A. Shehadi, M.D.
Neurosurgery Associates, LLC
393 East Town Street
Suite 110
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 220-5648
Fax: (614) 220-5649
I would say for as serious a surgery as this my surgery went really great. The fusion was from C-4 through C-6. Was only in the hospital over night. If you are interested in contacting the surgeon who did my procedure, I would higly recommend him. His name is as follows:
Joseph A. Shehadi, M.D.
Neurosurgery Associates, LLC
393 East Town Street
Suite 110
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 220-5648
Fax: (614) 220-5649
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I am a 34 year old who is scared out of her mind. Oddly it is the main things I have been hearing about difficulty swallowing, swollen throats, a choking feeling that worry me. I can't stand wearing turtlenecks they are too confining around my throat. Ok the idea of being put out and having my neck sliced open makes me nearly passout. I can only relate it to the fear of bungie jumping being scared of heights...Plenty of people have done it and were just fine, but knowing I have the choice not to...yeah not gonna do it.
My last MRI showed 4 bone spurs c3-c7, 2 bulging discs c4-5, c5-6, a herniated disc with bone spurs C6-C7 compressing the right ventral cord, and the right nerve rootlet. this was teh radiologist report..I haven't heard the official word from my neurosurgeon yet.
The question I have though is that unlike nearly everyone that has posted so far everyone has been in extreme pain. I am not therefore the incentive isn't there. I was last year admittingly. That aside I have had the injections to help, and I am on nerve blockers and muscle relaxers to control migraines and muscle spasms. Migraines are manageable (though I understand not a way of life), muscle spasms...same thing. Couple weeks ago I had a nasty bout of migraines that required aggressive treament that I never had to resort to before (injections) and once that subsided the burning sensation in my right hand started...it too has subsided, though the weakness and occasional numbness has taken it's place. I am assuming this is the progression downward? Then again I am still in no major pain.
I am an artist, I draw with my right hand, I can still draw, though holding tiny erasers, and other intricate instruments are getting difficult and my arm and hand are definately weaker. OK back to that question...Should I really consider the surgery if I am NOT in intense pain? My neurosurgeon knows I am an artist and He consults where I work. I hold him with very high regard and I do trust him completely. I had an appointment with him to go over an MRI I had done regarding these issues, I got a call the next morning moving my appointment up to thier next available... so Monday for the 3rd time I think he is going to try and talk me into surgery. I think if I were in severe pain I would agree to do it, but right now my fear is bigger than my discomfort. I would truly appreciate guidance from those that have been there done that and lived to tell a better tale.
sorry my nerves are getting the best of me and I am rambling on...please forgive, and any comfort would be welcomed.
--Stephanie
My last MRI showed 4 bone spurs c3-c7, 2 bulging discs c4-5, c5-6, a herniated disc with bone spurs C6-C7 compressing the right ventral cord, and the right nerve rootlet. this was teh radiologist report..I haven't heard the official word from my neurosurgeon yet.
The question I have though is that unlike nearly everyone that has posted so far everyone has been in extreme pain. I am not therefore the incentive isn't there. I was last year admittingly. That aside I have had the injections to help, and I am on nerve blockers and muscle relaxers to control migraines and muscle spasms. Migraines are manageable (though I understand not a way of life), muscle spasms...same thing. Couple weeks ago I had a nasty bout of migraines that required aggressive treament that I never had to resort to before (injections) and once that subsided the burning sensation in my right hand started...it too has subsided, though the weakness and occasional numbness has taken it's place. I am assuming this is the progression downward? Then again I am still in no major pain.
I am an artist, I draw with my right hand, I can still draw, though holding tiny erasers, and other intricate instruments are getting difficult and my arm and hand are definately weaker. OK back to that question...Should I really consider the surgery if I am NOT in intense pain? My neurosurgeon knows I am an artist and He consults where I work. I hold him with very high regard and I do trust him completely. I had an appointment with him to go over an MRI I had done regarding these issues, I got a call the next morning moving my appointment up to thier next available... so Monday for the 3rd time I think he is going to try and talk me into surgery. I think if I were in severe pain I would agree to do it, but right now my fear is bigger than my discomfort. I would truly appreciate guidance from those that have been there done that and lived to tell a better tale.
sorry my nerves are getting the best of me and I am rambling on...please forgive, and any comfort would be welcomed.
--Stephanie
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I had my surgery on December 26, 2009.
I was very hopeful that after the 12 weeks I would be moving forward & all would be well, as I have a brother who had the same surgery & he felt better the next day.
I haven't felt right since I woke up in recovery.
I have chronic pain that can be a very severe ache, stabbing, shooting, pins & needles, & burning, at times it is so bad I can't get out of bed for days or weeks at a time. My neck even pops like when you crack your knuckles, & they can't figure out why.
I have muscle loss & continued numbness in left arm, I can be holding a glass & it will just fall out of my hand.
They say it's nerve damage & it could heal within a year or it could be permanent.
I have other issues that effect my liver due to the pain meds, not sleeping at night, mood swings, depression etc...
In hind sight I wish I hadn't done the surgery, because it has kept me from working since November 19, 2009, & now I'm trying to get on disability, & that is a nightmare.
I was very hopeful that after the 12 weeks I would be moving forward & all would be well, as I have a brother who had the same surgery & he felt better the next day.
I haven't felt right since I woke up in recovery.
I have chronic pain that can be a very severe ache, stabbing, shooting, pins & needles, & burning, at times it is so bad I can't get out of bed for days or weeks at a time. My neck even pops like when you crack your knuckles, & they can't figure out why.
I have muscle loss & continued numbness in left arm, I can be holding a glass & it will just fall out of my hand.
They say it's nerve damage & it could heal within a year or it could be permanent.
I have other issues that effect my liver due to the pain meds, not sleeping at night, mood swings, depression etc...
In hind sight I wish I hadn't done the surgery, because it has kept me from working since November 19, 2009, & now I'm trying to get on disability, & that is a nightmare.
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My Story: I woke up one morning late-July 2010 to begin my day. However, I had a slight "crick" in my neck that would not let up. By the end of that week, I was at my Primary Care Doctor due to not being able to move my head and neck at all. I have a "desk job", so that made for a very difficult week at work. My PCD said I was having severe muscle spasms on the left side of the back of my neck. He put some "freezing" injections in my neck and shoulder, started me on muscle relaxers and had me return in one week. I went back the following week worse than I was the week prior. He then sent me for an MRI. The MRI showed two bulging discs pressing on my spinal cord. My PCD referred me to a Neurosurgeon in a neighboring city. After several weeks of attempting different medicinal therapies, the NS and I opted for the ACDF surgery (titanium plate in place). Surgery was performed on August 23, 2010. NS said I would be off work for 4-6 weeks. It has now been three months. I am constantly on pain medicine and muscle relaxers, both of which only take the edge off the pain. And along with the pain, I am experiencing severe weakness in my left arm and hand - to the point I dropped our Turkey (luckily still in packaging) in the floor on Thanksgiving and it only weighed 11 pounds. NS had me attempt Physical Therapy for a couple of weeks, but it only made the pain even worse. Even the Ultrasound, Electrode Therapy and Massage at PT brought me to tears! We have repeated X-rays a few times, with each time appearing normal. I've been going weekly to every two weeks to NS for over three months now. On my visit last week, NS stated I continue to have severe spasms in my neck and shoulder on the left side. I also am still in the gawdy neck brace. I manage no more than an hour at a time out of the brace without feeling like my head weighs 250 pounds and is going to fall off! I am due to go for an MRI tomorrow and directly to NS from there. However, I feel in my kitchen tonight and have had the worst, unbearable pain since! My left arm and hand are tingly and nearly numb. I can't feel anything on my left pinky finger. I am hoping to bear through it tonight and wait until my appointment tomorrow.
Has anyone else had this or nearly similar experience following ACDF surgery? If so, how are you coping (physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.)? I have three teenagers, all of which are active with school and community, and cannot afford to be off work like this.
Has anyone else had this or nearly similar experience following ACDF surgery? If so, how are you coping (physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.)? I have three teenagers, all of which are active with school and community, and cannot afford to be off work like this.
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Hi all! I am going on week four after my anterior cervical spine fusion c4-c7. The first day was rough, but I did notice that all my previous pain was gone! I had a bit of trouble getting adapted to the collar, but aftera few more days, it has become a part of me. My surgeon did a bone graft and titanium plate.
Before surgery I read many of the stories on this forum and it almost made me not have the surgery. I am so grateful that I overcame my fears! My surgery took 7 1/2 hours. Because my surgeon used steroids on me during the operation I felt all puffy and like a marshmallow for about five days.
I have read that some you do not even need to wear a collar, and others have to wear theirs for three months. I was told that I will wear mine for two months or less. After five days I took the initiative to wean myself off pain medication . I am now off the muscle relaxer too and feeling very fit. My neck feels stronger than it ever has.
Prior to my surgery I had left shoulder and armpit pain, arm pain down the front and back of my left arm, and pain in my index finger with loss of touch. I also had extreme weakness in my left arm. I initially hurt my neck in a car accident thirty years ago. I kept re-injuring it through the years until last Dec 3rd when I hurt it for the last time. I was stuck in bed, being the only relief I could find for the excruciating pain, and that included using pain meds.
I had no real choice regarding the surgery----either stay in bed, or have surgery and get my life back. I am fifty-one, a non smoker in relatively good health.
I wanted to post to let others know that my outcome has been so wonderful!!! I am pain free and managing to do things on my own now. I still do not clean house yet, but I can shower, dress and feed myself and cook light meals. I can sit here at the computer for short periods of time. I was really fatigued for about fifteen days, and I slept all night, and took two naps a day. Now I can make it all day without a nap.
I know my life post -op is already better than pre-op. I think if you have faith in your doctor, and you have tried all other interventions as I did ( therapy, acupuncture, injections, traction) , you will not regret the decision to move forward to a life of no pain.
Best wishes to you, and I pray you too will experience the freedom I am now enjoying! XD
Before surgery I read many of the stories on this forum and it almost made me not have the surgery. I am so grateful that I overcame my fears! My surgery took 7 1/2 hours. Because my surgeon used steroids on me during the operation I felt all puffy and like a marshmallow for about five days.
I have read that some you do not even need to wear a collar, and others have to wear theirs for three months. I was told that I will wear mine for two months or less. After five days I took the initiative to wean myself off pain medication . I am now off the muscle relaxer too and feeling very fit. My neck feels stronger than it ever has.
Prior to my surgery I had left shoulder and armpit pain, arm pain down the front and back of my left arm, and pain in my index finger with loss of touch. I also had extreme weakness in my left arm. I initially hurt my neck in a car accident thirty years ago. I kept re-injuring it through the years until last Dec 3rd when I hurt it for the last time. I was stuck in bed, being the only relief I could find for the excruciating pain, and that included using pain meds.
I had no real choice regarding the surgery----either stay in bed, or have surgery and get my life back. I am fifty-one, a non smoker in relatively good health.
I wanted to post to let others know that my outcome has been so wonderful!!! I am pain free and managing to do things on my own now. I still do not clean house yet, but I can shower, dress and feed myself and cook light meals. I can sit here at the computer for short periods of time. I was really fatigued for about fifteen days, and I slept all night, and took two naps a day. Now I can make it all day without a nap.
I know my life post -op is already better than pre-op. I think if you have faith in your doctor, and you have tried all other interventions as I did ( therapy, acupuncture, injections, traction) , you will not regret the decision to move forward to a life of no pain.
Best wishes to you, and I pray you too will experience the freedom I am now enjoying! XD
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Hi everyone. I found the postings on this site useful (though scary in some cases), so I thought I should post.
I had severe and increasing left scapular and left arm pain. I was dealing with it over a period of many years (masssage, acupuncture, decreasing activity, etc), but in the last 6 months the pain became very acute. When I finally had the MRI done, the spinal cord compression startled my doctor. He sent me to see one of the best surgeons in the country for ACDF, and he said I had to do it right away.
I am now 5 weeks post-op c5-c7 and am doing great. The first few days after the surgery were pretty tough (swallowing, sleeping, getting around, etc), but since then things improved more each day. I was on the pain meds for about 2 weeks, round the clock, then one here or there for about 2 more weeks. I just figured there was no reason to be a hero so take them if I needed them.
No collar for me; the surgeon used screws. Range of motion improves every day, though the ear to shoulder movement has been the slowest to return. The at-home PT exercises are critical for returning range of motion. I am driving, and have been for about 2 weeks.
I have a desk job so I returned to part-time work, mostly from home, after two weeks. I work 6-8 hour days now, 3 days a week in the office, 2 at home. My normal schedule is 8-10 hours, so I should be back to that in another couple of weeks. On working, I will say that when I get stressed out, I take a step backward a bit. It was a lesson for me to manage that. Again, no need to be a hero.
I still have numbness around the incision site and under the chin (no blade shaving guys!), but it decreases more each day.
Finally, I can barely see the scar, which absolutely astounds me.
Good luck everyone.
I had severe and increasing left scapular and left arm pain. I was dealing with it over a period of many years (masssage, acupuncture, decreasing activity, etc), but in the last 6 months the pain became very acute. When I finally had the MRI done, the spinal cord compression startled my doctor. He sent me to see one of the best surgeons in the country for ACDF, and he said I had to do it right away.
I am now 5 weeks post-op c5-c7 and am doing great. The first few days after the surgery were pretty tough (swallowing, sleeping, getting around, etc), but since then things improved more each day. I was on the pain meds for about 2 weeks, round the clock, then one here or there for about 2 more weeks. I just figured there was no reason to be a hero so take them if I needed them.
No collar for me; the surgeon used screws. Range of motion improves every day, though the ear to shoulder movement has been the slowest to return. The at-home PT exercises are critical for returning range of motion. I am driving, and have been for about 2 weeks.
I have a desk job so I returned to part-time work, mostly from home, after two weeks. I work 6-8 hour days now, 3 days a week in the office, 2 at home. My normal schedule is 8-10 hours, so I should be back to that in another couple of weeks. On working, I will say that when I get stressed out, I take a step backward a bit. It was a lesson for me to manage that. Again, no need to be a hero.
I still have numbness around the incision site and under the chin (no blade shaving guys!), but it decreases more each day.
Finally, I can barely see the scar, which absolutely astounds me.
Good luck everyone.
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I am scheduled for an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion in 13 days. I don't know what to do. I researched laser surgery but just don't have the money. (The laser surgery promises so much including no recuperation time and almost no pain, among others.) My surgery will be C-5C-6 with a hormone filled graft and a titanium plate. I just don't know what to do though.
I am 38, in excellent physical health, and very adventurous. In fact my last 'attack' was after a five-mile run. Since then, I have not run or done anything that could possibly hurt my neck. My whole lifestyle has changed. I am depressed, I want to drink, I even have a bit of pudge on my belly now. (I've had hard abs until this got so bad.) At 38 I can run circles around most younger guys. I am an avid swimmer, scuba diver, hiker/camper and hunter. I work as an ultrasound technician and when I have an attack my whole left arm goes numb alternating with severe agonizing pain. When this happens I cannot work. My work requires a steady hand and sharp intellect. I cannot use the pain meds. as they tend to dull my mental abilities as an ultrasound technician. I am deathly afraid to have this surgery. To me it's like a partial de-capitation!
However if I do have this surgery, it will take many months to be 'back-to-normal.' I may never be the same as before right? (If I cannot run, or hike or be free - then just put a gun to my head!) How come there is no mention or laser surgeries? What if I just leave this - and don't do any activities anymore???
I guess my question for everybody out there is: what do you think? Please weigh in! I'll listen to everybody's constructive input.
I am 38, in excellent physical health, and very adventurous. In fact my last 'attack' was after a five-mile run. Since then, I have not run or done anything that could possibly hurt my neck. My whole lifestyle has changed. I am depressed, I want to drink, I even have a bit of pudge on my belly now. (I've had hard abs until this got so bad.) At 38 I can run circles around most younger guys. I am an avid swimmer, scuba diver, hiker/camper and hunter. I work as an ultrasound technician and when I have an attack my whole left arm goes numb alternating with severe agonizing pain. When this happens I cannot work. My work requires a steady hand and sharp intellect. I cannot use the pain meds. as they tend to dull my mental abilities as an ultrasound technician. I am deathly afraid to have this surgery. To me it's like a partial de-capitation!
However if I do have this surgery, it will take many months to be 'back-to-normal.' I may never be the same as before right? (If I cannot run, or hike or be free - then just put a gun to my head!) How come there is no mention or laser surgeries? What if I just leave this - and don't do any activities anymore???
I guess my question for everybody out there is: what do you think? Please weigh in! I'll listen to everybody's constructive input.
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hello everyone,
i am a 45 yr old wife ,and mother of 3 sons,and nana of two grandchildren my problems started at 35 i had lower back surgery L4L5 S1 laminectomy and discectomy,2 weeks later after excruciating pain had mri and disc L4L5 had herniated..so 3 months later was in for L4 L5 S1discectomy and fusion by a different surgeon....i have ddd and neuropathy and fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis... 1 yr after back surgery in 2007 i found out it had spread to my neck..bound and determined not to have surgery i have fought it withnarcotics, injections ,trigger points ,pain meds physical therapy ,and even chiropractor..muscle relaxers....after a couple of falls because my balance is off i took one hard one 2 weeks before christmas in front of my grandchildren, backwards downstairs. I got up and thought i was ok ... a few days later i was in excruciating pain tightness in shoulders burning in the biceps of both arms,numbness and tingling in right arm until this time all my hurting had been in my left shoulder,now its both and i can not lay down and sleep...my mri shows i need ACDF c4 c5 c6 is where the disc is herniated...they want to use new hardware titanium plate and remove disc and replace with bone grafts and releive pressure off my spinal cord..and the nerves.and then they tell me i dont have a curve in my neck....so after reading a bunch of these post tonight i am very scared ,but i also was with my back surgery and although they didint help me i had to try...but i knew chances was 50 /50 i have L3L4 that needs fixing in my back ,but that is on hold for a while because of my neuropathy and chronic pain in my back i dont think it will help me....my legs ache so bad i cant walk long distances and hips are so sore cant touch them and knee burns like crazy but i think i need to try on my neck...i cant sleep ,rest,do anything fun or even enjoy my grandchilren and my quality of life is not good...i was put on disability at 39 yrs old took me 3 yrs to get it but thank god i did.so i feel like i have to try or i will never know.....i am so tired of crying at nght and using narcotics and muscle relaxers antiflamatories and sitting on heating pad..one thing i have learned tonight if anything, is i am not alone....surgery is scheduled march 17th..st patricks day...if i dont chicken out.....
i am a 45 yr old wife ,and mother of 3 sons,and nana of two grandchildren my problems started at 35 i had lower back surgery L4L5 S1 laminectomy and discectomy,2 weeks later after excruciating pain had mri and disc L4L5 had herniated..so 3 months later was in for L4 L5 S1discectomy and fusion by a different surgeon....i have ddd and neuropathy and fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis... 1 yr after back surgery in 2007 i found out it had spread to my neck..bound and determined not to have surgery i have fought it withnarcotics, injections ,trigger points ,pain meds physical therapy ,and even chiropractor..muscle relaxers....after a couple of falls because my balance is off i took one hard one 2 weeks before christmas in front of my grandchildren, backwards downstairs. I got up and thought i was ok ... a few days later i was in excruciating pain tightness in shoulders burning in the biceps of both arms,numbness and tingling in right arm until this time all my hurting had been in my left shoulder,now its both and i can not lay down and sleep...my mri shows i need ACDF c4 c5 c6 is where the disc is herniated...they want to use new hardware titanium plate and remove disc and replace with bone grafts and releive pressure off my spinal cord..and the nerves.and then they tell me i dont have a curve in my neck....so after reading a bunch of these post tonight i am very scared ,but i also was with my back surgery and although they didint help me i had to try...but i knew chances was 50 /50 i have L3L4 that needs fixing in my back ,but that is on hold for a while because of my neuropathy and chronic pain in my back i dont think it will help me....my legs ache so bad i cant walk long distances and hips are so sore cant touch them and knee burns like crazy but i think i need to try on my neck...i cant sleep ,rest,do anything fun or even enjoy my grandchilren and my quality of life is not good...i was put on disability at 39 yrs old took me 3 yrs to get it but thank god i did.so i feel like i have to try or i will never know.....i am so tired of crying at nght and using narcotics and muscle relaxers antiflamatories and sitting on heating pad..one thing i have learned tonight if anything, is i am not alone....surgery is scheduled march 17th..st patricks day...if i dont chicken out.....
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I understand your nerves, i tried convincing myself i didint need back surgery, but everyone would tell me you have to try to see if it will help.and i agree, it sounds like you also have some major damage and ii am encouraging you to try to fix it...i am also a scardy cat and dont want to have neck surgery but after 4 yrs ,i know prolonging it only makes it worse....so pray about it and dont do it until you yourself are ready, you are the only one that knows your pain GOD BELSS and good luck mchelle
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Chrisaalexander,
Please contact my email about the laser surgery. I am trying to make the decision for surgery but am VERY SCARED! I have 5 herniated discs from an auto accident on duty. I need C4-C7 disckectomy and fusion from hip bone, collar for 3 months...etc. I'm very concerned this may be carrer ending for me if the surgery is a failure. I am a police officer and my right hand is my "gun hand". I've been unable to work for 2 months now and still on pain meds.
Again email me so I can correspond with you directly about this "Laser Surgery" approach.
Dan
***this post is edited by moderator *** *** private e-mails not allowed **
Please read our Terms of Use
Please contact my email about the laser surgery. I am trying to make the decision for surgery but am VERY SCARED! I have 5 herniated discs from an auto accident on duty. I need C4-C7 disckectomy and fusion from hip bone, collar for 3 months...etc. I'm very concerned this may be carrer ending for me if the surgery is a failure. I am a police officer and my right hand is my "gun hand". I've been unable to work for 2 months now and still on pain meds.
Again email me so I can correspond with you directly about this "Laser Surgery" approach.
Dan
***this post is edited by moderator *** *** private e-mails not allowed **
Please read our Terms of Use
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I had a ACDF yesterday at a local out patient facility. Blue Double-Cross would only allow an out patient facility if they were going to
pay anything (which is somewhat doubtful). I tried everything to avoid this procedure. I had C4-6 done with grafting and titanium plate
and screws. Am wearing the collar 24 hours a day. Pain is pretty intense and the Norco they gave me does very little. I have not slept
since the procedure yesterday, can't find a comfortable spot. Due to the displacement of the larynx and esophagus, I can only swallow
with quite a bit of discomfort and eating takes a long time, if I eat at all. I'm sure things will get better before long but this initial period
is very difficult for me. But you can't judge a response on one persons situation, others have little problem afterward and do quite
well.
Great surgeon but the anesthesiologist was unwilling to give me anything but 2 shots of Demerol post op so that was difficult. I've had
other procedures where Morphine was used and I did well, very comfortable. This was not the case yesterday. Plus I had to leave the
surgical center as they were closing, not the best thing for this kind of surgery. But, again, unless I was willing to pay out of pocket for
hospital coverage, it was only out patient care.
I hope to be able to say I'm glad I did this. It's way to early to say now,time will tell. I would like to have some pain relief but don't
see that happening for some time. The swallowing will improve in a couple more days I'm sure.
We all respond to pain and procedures differently, it's just a good example of how different we all are when it comes to pain
thresholds and tolerance.
B.C.H.
pay anything (which is somewhat doubtful). I tried everything to avoid this procedure. I had C4-6 done with grafting and titanium plate
and screws. Am wearing the collar 24 hours a day. Pain is pretty intense and the Norco they gave me does very little. I have not slept
since the procedure yesterday, can't find a comfortable spot. Due to the displacement of the larynx and esophagus, I can only swallow
with quite a bit of discomfort and eating takes a long time, if I eat at all. I'm sure things will get better before long but this initial period
is very difficult for me. But you can't judge a response on one persons situation, others have little problem afterward and do quite
well.
Great surgeon but the anesthesiologist was unwilling to give me anything but 2 shots of Demerol post op so that was difficult. I've had
other procedures where Morphine was used and I did well, very comfortable. This was not the case yesterday. Plus I had to leave the
surgical center as they were closing, not the best thing for this kind of surgery. But, again, unless I was willing to pay out of pocket for
hospital coverage, it was only out patient care.
I hope to be able to say I'm glad I did this. It's way to early to say now,time will tell. I would like to have some pain relief but don't
see that happening for some time. The swallowing will improve in a couple more days I'm sure.
We all respond to pain and procedures differently, it's just a good example of how different we all are when it comes to pain
thresholds and tolerance.
B.C.H.
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I had my ACDF surgery exactly one month ago tomorrow and I am going in to see my surgeon for the first time since the surgery tomorrow. One thing that would be helpful to me would be to know how many of you are ... well...older (I see people in their 30s posting - I just turned 59) and how many of you work at a computer 8 hours a day like I do?
My situation was that I have had neck pain - stiff necks, achy joints, impaired movement - since my 20s, on and off. Once, when I was in my early 40s it got bad enough for me to seek specialized medical help - testing, Xrays, physical therapy (the traction kind - it was pretty silly, in my opinion). The diagnosis was degenerative disk disease, which sounded really serious. It scared me, but I sort of learned to live with it, mostly with a special pillow, a little traction-on-the-floor thing, a "real" traction unit that hangs over a door, a microwave heating collar, and a lot of sleeping on the floor. No drugs.
Then just last August (2010) - while we were edu-cationing in China (maybe doing more walking than we were used to...), my left shoulder blade - more accurately, my "wing" I guess? - started to hurt unbearably. I mean, it felt like someone was standing behind me, grabbing my wing and pulling as hard as possible - it felt like something outside of me was going to yank that whole portion of my left shoulder right off. (I am left-handed.) While we were sightseeing, I kept looking for doorways or walls to push my shoulder into, as if pushing hard against that burning pain would help. It didn't.
And, as I think you all know, it got worse. I tried to rest when we got home, using my usual sleep-on-the-floor trick. I kept trying to explain to my very agitated spouse that he didn't need to worry about accidentally bumping into my horribly painful wing - this wasn't swollen or sprained in the way most people (including me, based on my past experience) think of back or neck pain - this was like a burning, live electric wire twisting under my left shoulder blade, sparking a bit in my upper arm, stabbing hard at my elbow and then lessening on my forearm until it stabbed at that little round bone on the outside of my wrist. In fact, it was like something inside had caught on fire and someone was putting the fire out with a jagged rusty knife. (I write for a living, so I hope you find the picturesque detail helpful...).
Anyway, I went to see my regular doctor, who... okay. She's probably incompetent. I told her my whole story and all she said was, "Do you want to try physical therapy? Here's a prescription painkiller to help with the pain. Vicodin." So I dutifully went to see the physical therapist that friends of mine recommended, told her the whole story, and started in on the most painful physical therapy you can imagine. SHE actually did pull at my wing and shoulder blade to "loosen" it. She was a big believer in manipulative therapy. I am not a crier - I can probably count the number of times in my entire life when I have ever cried - not at funerals, not when I was beat up as a kid, not when I got fired once. But when I drove home - just a couple of miles - from these sessions, I sobbed and screamed and pounded the steering wheel, it hurt so much, I just thought I would lose my mind.
Once I got through six weeks of that, I actually felt better for probably three weeks - it was mid-November 2010 by then. And it came back, even worse. I would sit at my computer and it would start to hurt until I couldn't think, and then hurt until I couldn't even pretend to work, and then I would just stare at the clock and wonder how in the world I could even drive myself home. Driving did seem to be the worst of it - the constant jiggling of my neck, I now realize, must have caused it - I started screaming and crying all the way home again. I would burst in the door, run to the nearest carpeted area and lay down. Laying down helped almost not at all, but I was so programmed by my coping with disease all of my life by just getting horizontal on a firm surface, I guess I kept hoping it would work. My spouse would run for the Vicodin, the Tylenol, the Aleve and he would feed them to me like M&Ms. And the two of us would sob and count the minutes - almost always 40 minutes - before the pain would be somehow manageable enough for me to drag myself up to eat and go to bed.
And the next day, I would do all of this again. I don't know how anyone of you manages to work and have families and just live with this pain. My spouse now understands it is like a super toothache in your back, like something that needs a root canal or Novocain or something. You are braver and stronger than I am, that's for sure.
After a couple of weeks of this, I took things into my own hands and went to the web and talked to friends and decided to call a spine specialty center. I knew it was my neck, even though my neck didn't hurt. I knew absolutely that that was what it was.
The trouble with taking things like this into your own hands is, well, if you are not a medical professional in the same specialty you need help with, and of course, I am not a medical professional at all, you have no idea whether you are doing the right thing. Well, this spine place put me on nerve blockers, painkillers and muscle relaxants (muscle relaxants were less than useless for the pain and made me fall into coma, though a coma was preferable to how I was feeling).
We had planned a real vacation for over the holidays (December 2010) and I didn't think I would make it. I did, though it took more drugs and alcohol (I am serious - I can own a bottle of aspirin for a decade, I am just healthy most of the time and I try to use heat and rest to deal with illness - not drugs...) than I think I had ingested in my whole life up until that point. I seemed to be fine, laying in a chair by the pool, but surfing the web on my laptop or reading was impossibly painful. The ride back to the airport to leave our vacation was the most painful 90 minutes I have ever experienced in my life. Again, my spouse sat with a bag of painkillers and kept feeding them to me and counting the minutes until something, anything, would lessen the pain. I don't know that anyone else on the shuttle bus even noticed, but then again, who cares?
So when we got home, we called this spine specialist and basically said nothing was working and that I was in so much pain that I couldn't move or think anymore. He said I should just double the nerve blocker, and - it was like a miracle - the pain started going away after a few days on the doubled dosage. The spine guy got me into a physical therapy program that used exercise (no more traction, no more manipulation).
Now, I have read up on the whole anatomy of this disease, and I think I am a relatively logical person: why would exercise help a crunched nerve? The thing is, I AM a logical person and I knew exercise probably was good for the rest of my body, if not my neck (yeah, sure - your strengthened muscles will compensate for your crunched disks... yeah, I bet that's worked really well for all of us). But I wasn't feeling any pain, between the nerve blockers and the painkillers. And I was programmed by prior experience with this disease to know that it always went away at some point. So I finished my six weeks of this new exercise-based physical therapy, which thankfully didn't hurt, continued to do my little exercises at home and, under the spine guy's instructions, started to cut back on the nerve blockers and the painkillers. Gradually. Very gradually.
Things went well for a couple of weeks and then - ka-boom. The pain came back and it wanted to punish me like nothing I have ever felt before. I have read that when people catch their bodies on fire, they naturally try to run away from the flames, hurting themselves even more. The pain I felt then became so intense that I would run from one wall of my bedroom to the other, like a caged animal. No amount of painkillers or nerve blockers could make it stop. Always the left shoulder blade, down the arm to my elbow, then to my wrist. But truly like the flames of hell.
I went in to work a couple of times during this period and I would work for a couple of hours and then just shake from the pain. I would take every painkiller and muscle relaxant and nerve blocker in my purse and then my spouse would have to come and drive me home. It was insane. I would get home and crawl into a ball on the floor and just scream.
So, once again, I took matters into my own hands and asked a friend of ours who had had some neck surgery a dozen years ago who his doctor was. He told me and that's where I went. The guy wanted to talk me out of surgery, try this, try that. He couldn't get a good idea of how bad it was from my MRIs, but he thought he might be able to go in and drill a little hole to "free up" the nerve root.
That sounded right to me and really no more serious than having a cavity filled. Cool. But he needed a CT scan to really see it better. When I came back with the CT scan, the whole ballgame, as they say, changed dramatically. It was kind of like, "your first disk isn't great, your next one down is worse, this next one is really bad and, well, you have no disk left on the next ones - it's just bone-on-bone. I have an opening for surgery tomorrow morning."
So that was a lot of typing for me. Stay tuned for my next installment: "Getting ready for major surgery in just hours, surgery, hospital stay, post-op, and one month later."
My situation was that I have had neck pain - stiff necks, achy joints, impaired movement - since my 20s, on and off. Once, when I was in my early 40s it got bad enough for me to seek specialized medical help - testing, Xrays, physical therapy (the traction kind - it was pretty silly, in my opinion). The diagnosis was degenerative disk disease, which sounded really serious. It scared me, but I sort of learned to live with it, mostly with a special pillow, a little traction-on-the-floor thing, a "real" traction unit that hangs over a door, a microwave heating collar, and a lot of sleeping on the floor. No drugs.
Then just last August (2010) - while we were edu-cationing in China (maybe doing more walking than we were used to...), my left shoulder blade - more accurately, my "wing" I guess? - started to hurt unbearably. I mean, it felt like someone was standing behind me, grabbing my wing and pulling as hard as possible - it felt like something outside of me was going to yank that whole portion of my left shoulder right off. (I am left-handed.) While we were sightseeing, I kept looking for doorways or walls to push my shoulder into, as if pushing hard against that burning pain would help. It didn't.
And, as I think you all know, it got worse. I tried to rest when we got home, using my usual sleep-on-the-floor trick. I kept trying to explain to my very agitated spouse that he didn't need to worry about accidentally bumping into my horribly painful wing - this wasn't swollen or sprained in the way most people (including me, based on my past experience) think of back or neck pain - this was like a burning, live electric wire twisting under my left shoulder blade, sparking a bit in my upper arm, stabbing hard at my elbow and then lessening on my forearm until it stabbed at that little round bone on the outside of my wrist. In fact, it was like something inside had caught on fire and someone was putting the fire out with a jagged rusty knife. (I write for a living, so I hope you find the picturesque detail helpful...).
Anyway, I went to see my regular doctor, who... okay. She's probably incompetent. I told her my whole story and all she said was, "Do you want to try physical therapy? Here's a prescription painkiller to help with the pain. Vicodin." So I dutifully went to see the physical therapist that friends of mine recommended, told her the whole story, and started in on the most painful physical therapy you can imagine. SHE actually did pull at my wing and shoulder blade to "loosen" it. She was a big believer in manipulative therapy. I am not a crier - I can probably count the number of times in my entire life when I have ever cried - not at funerals, not when I was beat up as a kid, not when I got fired once. But when I drove home - just a couple of miles - from these sessions, I sobbed and screamed and pounded the steering wheel, it hurt so much, I just thought I would lose my mind.
Once I got through six weeks of that, I actually felt better for probably three weeks - it was mid-November 2010 by then. And it came back, even worse. I would sit at my computer and it would start to hurt until I couldn't think, and then hurt until I couldn't even pretend to work, and then I would just stare at the clock and wonder how in the world I could even drive myself home. Driving did seem to be the worst of it - the constant jiggling of my neck, I now realize, must have caused it - I started screaming and crying all the way home again. I would burst in the door, run to the nearest carpeted area and lay down. Laying down helped almost not at all, but I was so programmed by my coping with disease all of my life by just getting horizontal on a firm surface, I guess I kept hoping it would work. My spouse would run for the Vicodin, the Tylenol, the Aleve and he would feed them to me like M&Ms. And the two of us would sob and count the minutes - almost always 40 minutes - before the pain would be somehow manageable enough for me to drag myself up to eat and go to bed.
And the next day, I would do all of this again. I don't know how anyone of you manages to work and have families and just live with this pain. My spouse now understands it is like a super toothache in your back, like something that needs a root canal or Novocain or something. You are braver and stronger than I am, that's for sure.
After a couple of weeks of this, I took things into my own hands and went to the web and talked to friends and decided to call a spine specialty center. I knew it was my neck, even though my neck didn't hurt. I knew absolutely that that was what it was.
The trouble with taking things like this into your own hands is, well, if you are not a medical professional in the same specialty you need help with, and of course, I am not a medical professional at all, you have no idea whether you are doing the right thing. Well, this spine place put me on nerve blockers, painkillers and muscle relaxants (muscle relaxants were less than useless for the pain and made me fall into coma, though a coma was preferable to how I was feeling).
We had planned a real vacation for over the holidays (December 2010) and I didn't think I would make it. I did, though it took more drugs and alcohol (I am serious - I can own a bottle of aspirin for a decade, I am just healthy most of the time and I try to use heat and rest to deal with illness - not drugs...) than I think I had ingested in my whole life up until that point. I seemed to be fine, laying in a chair by the pool, but surfing the web on my laptop or reading was impossibly painful. The ride back to the airport to leave our vacation was the most painful 90 minutes I have ever experienced in my life. Again, my spouse sat with a bag of painkillers and kept feeding them to me and counting the minutes until something, anything, would lessen the pain. I don't know that anyone else on the shuttle bus even noticed, but then again, who cares?
So when we got home, we called this spine specialist and basically said nothing was working and that I was in so much pain that I couldn't move or think anymore. He said I should just double the nerve blocker, and - it was like a miracle - the pain started going away after a few days on the doubled dosage. The spine guy got me into a physical therapy program that used exercise (no more traction, no more manipulation).
Now, I have read up on the whole anatomy of this disease, and I think I am a relatively logical person: why would exercise help a crunched nerve? The thing is, I AM a logical person and I knew exercise probably was good for the rest of my body, if not my neck (yeah, sure - your strengthened muscles will compensate for your crunched disks... yeah, I bet that's worked really well for all of us). But I wasn't feeling any pain, between the nerve blockers and the painkillers. And I was programmed by prior experience with this disease to know that it always went away at some point. So I finished my six weeks of this new exercise-based physical therapy, which thankfully didn't hurt, continued to do my little exercises at home and, under the spine guy's instructions, started to cut back on the nerve blockers and the painkillers. Gradually. Very gradually.
Things went well for a couple of weeks and then - ka-boom. The pain came back and it wanted to punish me like nothing I have ever felt before. I have read that when people catch their bodies on fire, they naturally try to run away from the flames, hurting themselves even more. The pain I felt then became so intense that I would run from one wall of my bedroom to the other, like a caged animal. No amount of painkillers or nerve blockers could make it stop. Always the left shoulder blade, down the arm to my elbow, then to my wrist. But truly like the flames of hell.
I went in to work a couple of times during this period and I would work for a couple of hours and then just shake from the pain. I would take every painkiller and muscle relaxant and nerve blocker in my purse and then my spouse would have to come and drive me home. It was insane. I would get home and crawl into a ball on the floor and just scream.
So, once again, I took matters into my own hands and asked a friend of ours who had had some neck surgery a dozen years ago who his doctor was. He told me and that's where I went. The guy wanted to talk me out of surgery, try this, try that. He couldn't get a good idea of how bad it was from my MRIs, but he thought he might be able to go in and drill a little hole to "free up" the nerve root.
That sounded right to me and really no more serious than having a cavity filled. Cool. But he needed a CT scan to really see it better. When I came back with the CT scan, the whole ballgame, as they say, changed dramatically. It was kind of like, "your first disk isn't great, your next one down is worse, this next one is really bad and, well, you have no disk left on the next ones - it's just bone-on-bone. I have an opening for surgery tomorrow morning."
So that was a lot of typing for me. Stay tuned for my next installment: "Getting ready for major surgery in just hours, surgery, hospital stay, post-op, and one month later."
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i had my surgery march 17th c4-6 fusion with bone graft and titanium the whole works....i didnt eat any real food for a month and just this week have started swallowing meat afterr washing it down...i am in so much pain i cant describe....i am on oxycocone 15mg and they added a 5mg for breakthrough pain i stopped taking that so i could soon drive again.....the surgerey did not help i have the burning in my neck my shoulders down to my elbow my right arm hurts so bad in mornings i want to die .....i became so depressd i am now on anti depressants......my husband has to get me out of hte bed every morning the surgery has not just helped i am worse i can not get out of the bed by myself.....the doctors say give it time...i had one good night sleep that gave me encouragement and the next morning same way...i have not found a comfortable condition to lay aand dont know what i am doing wrong i am still in collar and go back to doctor april 26th waiting to hear what he says,,i dont have a curve in my neck so i still think things are being compressed.........anyone still having pain? i am desperate i dont know what to do i am valium soma oxy wellbutrin vitamind and magnesium and nothing seems to help feels likes someone is sitting on my neck......hellllllppppp
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mchelle004 wrote: i had my surgery march 17th c4-6 fusion with bone graft and titanium the whole works....i didnt eat any real food for a month and just this week have started swallowing meat afterr washing it down...i am in so much pain i cant describe....i am on oxycocone 15mg and they added a 5mg for breakthrough pain i stopped taking that so i could soon drive again.....the surgerey did not help i have the burning in my neck my shoulders down to my elbow my right arm hurts so bad in mornings i want to die .....i became so depressd i am now on anti depressants......my husband has to get me out of hte bed every morning the surgery has not just helped i am worse i can not get out of the bed by myself.....the doctors say give it time...i had one good night sleep that gave me encouragement and the next morning same way...i have not found a comfortable condition to lay aand dont know what i am doing wrong i am still in collar and go back to doctor april 26th waiting to hear what he says,,i dont have a curve in my neck so i still think things are being compressed.........anyone still having pain? i am desperate i dont know what to do i am valium soma oxy wellbutrin vitamind and magnesium and nothing seems to help feels likes someone is sitting on my neck......hellllllppppp
mchelleoo4, I am so sorry to hear what you are going through. I also still have a lot of pain down my left should (wing) and arm and now in my neck - but nothing as bad as what you are feeling. Do you just have severe arthritis (that's what I have) or was yours related to an accident? My surgeon keeps telling me my pain will get better and I guess it is, but of course I am doing next to nothing. I am back working at my desk job, sort of full-time, and I drove the car for the first time yesterday. I am pretty much off pain meds except Tylenol, but I am definitely not off the pain yet...
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