Jeff,

I am at week five after a fusion and laminoplasty of C5-T1 done posteriorly and each day I wake up I am amazed.

I wish I could talk to you via email or something. Is that possible?

In my lifetime I would never have even thought that my lower back issues and my ability to walk upright or sit or lay down at night or straighten out my legs etc....so many things that I and many, many doctors from many, many disciplines related to my arachnoiditis, my severe scoliosis, my 9 major lumbar surgeries (failed surgery syndrome I guess), severe stenosis and on and on and on....

Now I can lay down at night and sleep - no kidding. This is a major. I get up in the morning and walk around - without thinking about crawling to the frig to get an ice pack and how long it will take to get my legs to straighten out enough to allow me to get to my car to work etc...

I can sit - I can sit for hours....prior to the surgery I could sit for about 10 minutes before all hell would break lose and I would be eating narcotics so I could finish work and not have to go home for the day.

I could go on and on - about how my life has changed and now I am weaning off a very high daily dose of long acting narcotics - I am not sure how to go about doing this - but believe me - I can do it and will figure it out.

Do not worry about the pain after surgery - everyone has post surgical pain - everyone has to cope and most people don't feel much due to the narcotics.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask me - I will check back periodically to see if you need me.

I will be praying for you.

K