Cheryl,

I've had 3 cervical fusions, and they can/have caused problems down the road due to scar tissue build up and addtional pressure on the discs above and below.

If you need it though, you need it. I remember that excruciating pain and sometimes you don't have much choice. YOU, however, may have a choice that I didn't for my priors, but if/when it comes to another (they may need to open up the spinal cord area due to slippage and scaring) I will definitely go this new way.

There are more and more clinics and hospitals doing the surgery microscopically now.
You can do a search on microscopic spine surgery and find out where, how, etc.

There are many advantages. It's a outpatient surgery, basically, with a tiny incision that doesn't damage the muscles and nerves. They don't even have to give general anesthesia which is a big plus for me!

I found out about this procedure years ago, but timing has always been a problem in my cases. For the 1st one I didn't now about; the 2nd surgery they didn't have it perfected for the cervical spine if you had a prior fusion; the 3rd was 1 month after a thymectomy for myasthenia gravis and I was in no shape to research, etc. then.

My old boss rented a condo in FLA to patients of a clinic there that did this type surgery at that time on just lombar spine area, but he was so amazed because these people arrived in a wheel chair and left walking!

Worth checking on for you I think!

Good luck!