Consider yourself a very blessed and fortunate person... I too suffer like crazy .. Had a c4-c7 almost 10 mths ago and then had another surgery where they scraped arthritis from a bone in the back called the facet almost 5 mths ago ... Still in a lot of pain.. I've been referred to pain Mgt now .. The surgeon says I am able to work and the surgery 'looks' good... He doesn't want to admit it  put me in A LOT. More pain than before!! I have now applied for SS disability almost a year later..