Sorry, I haven't been able to check in here lately as I have been working may hours to make up for my time away for surgery. The surgery is now 3 days away and of course, I am very anxious. The history on my problem (as requested by Kathi) is this: beginning over 2 years ago I had much pain in my middle of my back and shoulder blades, then eventually had numbness in my arm leading down into my thumb and first two fingers. Tried a round of steroids, then PT, which seemed to make my muscle spasms and pain worse (especially when they did traction). Tried about 6 sessions of accupuncture, which did not help at all, and seemed to increase the pain for a short while afterward.

Then tried 2 nerve root block injections into C 6/7. Pain eased off a bit, but I still had to take skelaxin 3 times a day, along with ibuprofren, though none of it in huge doses. MRI showed (and continues to show) a large bulging disc, bulging into the nerve and osteophyte complex. A year later, pain was still about the same, still on meds, propping myself up on pillows at night and unable to sleep well due to discomfort (though not intense pain). Finally tried PT again, with same results, and then this summer an epidural (cervical) with little help given, though it did calm the tingling I was starting to feel in my arm again. Later in the summer tried a facet joint block which caused tremendous pain in the area, rather than helping.

Now I am experiencing on and off neck and shoulder pain, though not at an intolerable level. Also have been having head aches off and on, pain at my occipital ridge (just below hairline in back of head), and very slight tingling off and on. NS says that it will "only get worse" and that I have lost some of the strength in my left arm/hand and that I will eventually "have to" have the surgery and noted that the longer I wait, the more damage I may do. He felt an ACDF was needed and that he could not fix this with a procedure from the back of my neck.

So here I go. I am not in agony, but when I consider having to continue to filter my life through this haze of on and off again pain, life seems daunting to me. I don't look forward to the recovery and worry about whether I am dooming myself to a life now of recurrent neck and back problems. But what else can I do? Haven't I tried everything?

BTW, I am a female, not a male...