Hi N, I had surgery at the same levels as you and I wonder why your doc would not put you in a collar. Did you have one on when you woke up from surgery? I remember when I would take mine off to air out my neck it hurt to even hold my head up. I think I wore it for about 2-3 weeks then when I was in a car for another month or so.

I also had rotator cuff surgery the next month after my ACDF. I would not recommend it. I was still so sore from the cervical surgery that it made it difficult to do PT for my shoulder. I think that is alot of the reason why I still have pain and reduced range of motion in my shoulder.

Give yourself time to heal, take things slow for as long as you can to give your neck the time it needs to fuse. I think it is around 6 months but not sure on that. I think that is when the doc said I was fused. This was in 04 and with my brain I can barely remember my name sometimes

Hope you feel better soon and it will come although it doesn't seem like it now. Oh and were you in an MVA? SOunds so familiar with the cervical/shoulder combo...Sue