So I saw my 6th surgeon and there's an even split of surgery/no surgery recommendations. I'm going forward with it though, specifically a laminoplasty. The 2 surgeons that recommended this are both professors at good universities. Their rationale is preserving motion while protecting the spinal cord. I did a little research and it seems that I have a risk factors for an increased risk of c5 palsy given my cord signal changes at c4-c5. I'll have to get more info on that before going forward. I'm targeting January, after the holidays. It's scary stuff but so is continuing on without doing anything. This seems like the best decision I can make for my situation.