Hello I had a fusion similar to yours back in 2005, same area, cadaver bone, etc. I don't know if it's pertinent or not, but I had the worst pain after surgery, hurting my left shoulder the most (right side was more affected pre-surgery). The surgeon told me that the cadaver bone was larger than the space previously occupied by the disc, b/c he expected some compression over time as the fusion took hold. This caused some stretching of the nerves which really irritated them, but it did eventually go away. I also ended up on prednisone b/c of swelling inside my neck. Both of those issues occurred pretty soon after surgery, not months later, but everyone is different. I was also pretty young for my surgery, only 33, and pretty active w/workouts, which may have helped me 'bounce back' quickly.

Hope you get to feeling better soon!

eta: About 6 months post surgery I had a horrible neck spasm that happened simply as I was rolling over in bed at night. It was severe and made me scream out, scaring my husband LOL I thought I had somehow managed to re-injure my neck. I requested physical therapy at that point which I would suggest you do if you can...they have stretches and exercises they can teach you that will help increase your range of motion (mine had gotten stiff, apparently) and show you movements to avoid. I have also since been dx'd with peripheral neuropathy, so my lingering nerve pains in arms, hands, etc are likely explained by that. I do NOT have all the same pains/etc that I'd had pre-surgery, though, so I do think it helped.