Thanks so much for your time to reply I was having a difficult time figuring out what effacement meant.

I will certainly keep you posted, I just saw my PCP and got the results yesterday. She had suggested calling the NS when the results first came in but I sort of freaked out and said I wanted to wait until I could talk to her (PCP) and see them myself.

Back when I had my first surgery I was a bit younger, 33, and more irritated by the way the symptoms of my right hand were constantly interfering with my life. The NS did the traction trial but overall it seemed he was preparing to do surgery from the get go. I was excited to be magically 'fixed' and it did work out well for the most part.

I'm just older and more leery now :lol Even though (can't remember for sure) my symptoms and neck seem worse now, I really don't want to jump into an OR. But I've never really spent much time looking at other options. I'm more concerned about the weakness and lack of 'control' I'm getting in my left arm.

I'll definitely let you know when I have my appt. scheduled. I'm supposed to get a disc of the MRI images to take to the NS, so maybe I'll even get a chance to copy them to my comp mwahaha.