i completely understand what you all are going through. i just had acdf surgery on july 26, 2012 with a corpectomy, and some other things as well. i will get my exact surgical information on monday. i do know that i went to an orthopedic university doctor and that he replaced four discs and one vertabra and i have a titanium plate. i was afraid to have the surgery after reading so many scary stories, but the surgery went well. i do think it is a great idea to go to a spinal surgery class prior to having the surgery. i remember having so many questions, and i felt badly about emailing the nurse so many times for each one.

my main issues were:1. do i really have to have the surgery? my condition first came up in 2007 when one day i had the most excruciating headache in the world. i've had two children and other painful events, but nothing came close to this. i had to go to the hospital four times for pain shots during the six weeks that it took for them to diagnose what was going on (cervical spinal stenosis). each time that i forget, or couldn't get to take the pain medicine for whatever reason, the pain would come back so intensely that nothing but a round of three shots would get me back to where the pain meds could help. i finally got an mri and received three epidural injections and the pain went away. five years later, i had tingling in my right middle finger, pain in my neck, pain when walking, and i could almost never make it to the bathroom in time before peeing on myself. My original neurologist send me to get an mri and then sent me to a neurosurgeon. the original neurosurgeon said that there was spinal cord compression in three areas of my neck. he sent me to get another epidural injection (which did nothing for me this time), and told me that i could probably wait two to five years before having surgery. my condition worsened very quickly. now my left arm and legs started to lose sensation. it was such a strange sensation, and i started falling a lot. on one occasion, i went to the hospital after a fall because i had hit my head so hard. i went back to my neurologist and told him that i had not been able to tell the original neurosurgeon everything that i wanted to because my dominant mom was in the room and had basically dominated the entire office visit (even though i am 40years old!). he suggested that i email the doctor and tell him all of my symptoms, and i did. i immediately got an email back saying that he wanted to schedule surgery right away. that freaked me out, so i went to get a second opinion, same recommendation. the only question was whether or not to fix two or three levels. so i finally went to the emory university spinal center for a third opinion. i saw Dr Yoon, who was amazing. they scheduled my surgery and "did' all three levels plus the discotomy and other things that i will send later. the surgery was went well. the doctor said that when they took out the vertabra and discs, my spinal cord plumped back up beautifully (my words). i would definitely recommend emory university. he said that had i not had the surgery, i would probably have been in a wheelchair within a year or so. the sensation came back in my legs immediately and the priclking in my right arm worsened at first, but now has almost totally gone away.

i also felt anxious on the first night after the surgery. i woke up crying hysterically. they gave me a valium and an oxycontin (without acetaminophen). this calmed me down, but didn't really get rid of the pain in my back so i requested tylonol. this helped tremendously.

my other main issue prior to surgery was who would help take care of me post surgery, and of course money. the fact is that, unless you've been through something like this, no one understands. i am three weeks out, and people have been asking me to do things for them as if i did not just have surgery. everyone says i look fine, so i suppose they think i feel fine. at times this makes me angry, but we just have to realize that most people don't really care about anyone but themselves, sorry to sound so cruel. you will need help at least for the first week with the basics of life, and since i can't drive until 6 weeks post op, it is hard to find people to take my children to school, get to the pharmacy, etc.. try to organize as much as possible prior to surgery. ask friends or family to expect to help give you rides, etc.. and i'd say don't try to be a hero and not take your pain meds. they recommend that you walk at lest 15-20 mins every 2 hours post op. that doesn't mean you should do too much. just make sure you get out of bed and walk around at least every two hours. i am now up to walking at about 2.5-3.5 mph for two miles as many days as possible.

i gained 14 lbs since surgery. i coudn't figure it out at first. thought it might be constipation from the narcotics. then i wrote a list of what i'd been eating since i've been staying at my parents' house and i realize that this is probably the culprit. (cookies, ice cream, peanut butter, etc.. they love sweets). so prepare to have healthy, fiber rich foods in the house. I also had trouble swallowing a a slight sore throat for about a week. i ate tons of pop sickles which helped quite a bit. i start the day with a smoothie with fruit, milk thistle (an herb that helps the liver quite a bit in my experience. i took it to assist my liver while taking all of this medication), raw calcium, pro biotics, and rice milk. hope this helps.

luckily i had a friend who had had a lumbar fusion a few years ago. he lives out of town, but his encouraging emails really helped. also, i have had many lucid dreams. after a particularly frustrating day, i actually dreamy that i strangled someone! jut know that each day is different; some good, some better, and some not so great. breathe and just know that you are not alone.