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Member
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gabbycakes
Hi All,
My husband is having cervical spine surgery due to a nerve compression and bulging disc in the c7-t1 and c1 area, I believe those are the areas of question. He has had 2 lumbar fusion the first one was a disaster then it had a revision done my a top surgeon had great success. We are using the same group of doctors this one just specializes in the cervical area. Anyway his symtoms started out of the clear blue with a clawing hand, no pain and numbness in the hand. The hand is really bad. We have been told this can become very serious and needs to be fixed immediately. So we have spend the last 2 days in NYC doing all kinds of test seeing addional doctors to confer with etc. We have to go again on Monday and then he has a phone conference with his surgeon.
From what I understand the type of surgery that he will be doing is a very simple really no pain just releasing the nerve and then just possible cleaning the disc in the area, he stated this is nothing like the lumbar fusion he had.
I wish I had a more technical dx. but I will on Monday.They have been rushing us from neurologist,to MRI, back to the surgeons office it been nuts. But any input would be greatly appreciated, any questions we should ask, anything.
Thanks,
Gabbycakes
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Hi Gabby,
A one (disc) level fusion is not a big deal really, if your surgeon is competent. I'm not sure if you meant C7-T1 fusion which would involve two (disc) levels. Incidence of non-union goes up some when fusing two contiguous disc levels. I am also not sure what you mean by the C1 area as there is no disc between the occiput and C1 and between C1 and C2.
I had a C5-C6 PEEK cage and anterior plate fusion for disc hernia related to a car accident. I had a very highly skilled neurosurgeon, spine fellowship-trained so it was not that big of a deal. Pain was annoying, swallowing was a pain in the butt for a bit but more than anything, I was plain bored for that 1 month of sitting at home. Pain meds easily controlled any discomfort. Now the shoulder reconstruction and CRPS 2 months later was a different story!
With a claw hand, surgery is certainly necessary and chances are very good that any result will likely be better than where he is now.
Good luck!
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