I had a fusion at C6/C7 in Oct. of 2004. I had sharp electrical shooting pain from underneath my right shoulder blade down my arm through my first 2 fingers and thumb of my right hand. Very, very painful! I had 4 steroid epadurals before the insurance company decided they would pay for surgery. I was taking 10-12 Vicodins 800/10mg per day (for 8 months) just so I could work (a tax accountant) and drive to my office. My NS removed 3 fragments from the spinal cord as well as a bunch of the disk fragments, which had blown apart blocking 25-30% of the space around the spinal cord. After my surgery I took 4 Vicodins a day for 2 days stopping myself the third day as I didn't need them anymore and only took them after the surgery for pain from the surgery. I wore the hard plastic collar for 6 weeks, then the soft collar for 2 weeks. My NS didn't believe I should have any PT so I didn't and its never seemed to bother me. My flexibility is normal and so far my plate doesn't seem to have come unscrewed! Only bothers me if I sleep on it wrong or my 6 y.o. son climbs over my head and twists it! All the previous pain was gone the instant I woke in the recovery room.

Since then, I have been DX with gastroparesis (my GI believes caused by damage to the Vagus nerve), full body SFN, and unexplained atrophy of the brain for my age (the neuro doc stated the oversized ventricals appear as those of an 85 year old man would). I also have unexplained balance issues and short-term memory problems (which are only heightened with the SFN drugs), dystonia and migraines (which are less frequent with the SFN drugs).

Jay