thank you Lee for your reply.
The palsy is in the muscles and arms. It seems to be rare side effect of surgery. One description: "Occasionally, patients who undergo an operation on the cervical spine (in the region of the neck) will awaken with paralysis of one or both arms. This paralysis, known as C5 Palsy, usually involves the shoulder and sometimes the biceps."
If you Google c5 palsy there are a few articles and web sites, but so far there hasn't been a lot of research, and there seems to be little agreement on the causes, prevention or the treatment for it. The common advice is to wait 4-12 months and it should resolve itself, at least for 70% of those affected.
They did treat the inflamation as you suggested.
thanks,
linda