Best wishes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery. Everyone seems to have different experiences as every case is unique. My best friend had 2 level c5-c7 last year and is now doing fine, but was off work 6 weeks. His included plates and screws. I had single level in June and was off work 2 weeks but no plates or screws (you can read about my experience under posting "ACDF with ROI-C Implant"). It's been 2 months and I'm still having manageable pain, but the original excruciating pain went away immediately with surgery. I put off the surgery too long and developed nerve damage and loss of arm strength...just as the doctors warned me might happen. I haven't taken anything other than Aleve for pain for many weeks, and usually only one or two pills/day.