Hi all! I am new to the group and just recently had an mri done on my neck. About 5 months ago I started experiencing pain under my left shoulder blade. The pain worsened progressively, so I broke down and went to my PC in mid June. An x-ray was done, which didn't show a whole lot and my doc sent me to PT. After about 4 weeks of PT, my problem became much worse. The pain spread down my arm and my hand has partial numbness along with lots of tingling and strong electrical shocks down my arm. I had an mri done late July and here are the results:

C4-C5 - central disc herniation and posterior osteophyte. Herniation measures 1.6 cm transverse x 0.7 cm anterior to posterior. Moderate canal stenosis effacing the ventral aspect of the spinal cord. Mild right sided and mild to moderate left sided neural forminal stenosis.

C5-C6 - posterior disc osteophyte complex and mild canal stenosis. There is moderate bilateral neural foraminal stenosis secondary to posterior osteophyte.

C6-C7 - broad posterior disc herniation measuring 2.2 CM transverse X 0.6 cm anterior to posterior; this is more prominent on left than right. This causes moderate canal stenosis effacing the ventral aspect of the spinal cord. This causes moderate to severe left-sided neural foraminal stenosis. There is minimal right sided neural forminal stenosis.

There is very slight increased T2 signal in the spinal cord at the C4-C5 level, likely secondary to chronic impression of the spinal cord from the above mentioned disc herniation.

I saw a neurosurgeon last week. As I suspected, there are no conservative treatments that could help me. The herniated discs are quite large. He wants to do a multi-level ACDF, removing the herniated discs from C 4-5, leaving C 5-6 alone and removing C 6-7. I asked why would you leave the disc in between, wouldn't that be asking for trouble later and he basically said, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Because it is not ruptured, he said that fusing of the vertebra above and below would protect it. I can see his point and I am wondering if any one on here has had a similar situation. A lot of people have said I should get a second opinion. But the fact of the matter is, I really like this doctor. He is affiliated with our local med school and he teaches there. He was kind, thorough and spent almost two hours with me. I felt very comfortable with him. Before I can even have the surgery, I have to attend a two hour class on spinal cord surgery. There is only one other group of neurosurgeons in our town and I have had lumbar surgery done by one of them. I intended to go back to him, but was unable to get in to see him until October. And I can't wait that long. Frankly, I don't know how much longer I can live with this horrid pain in my shoulder area and arm. It is relentless. I am taking the maximum amount of pain medication allowed and it has almost zero impact on the pain. The electric shocks down my arm, the tingling and numbness in my fingers, I could live with. But not the pain. I really look forward to hearing from others who are, or have been in my situation. Any insight would be appreciated.

Beckel

I just wanted to say hi and offer some support!!! I am also preparing for a 3 level fusion in 6 dats!!! I have been dealing with the pain numbness tingling and shocks for about 8 months!!!! People that havent been here, have no idea what we go through. My family is amazing but they dont really get it I feel sometimes. Nervous yes but looking forward to relief!!!!

Just wanted to say thank you for your reply. And you are correct, people have no idea of the pain I am suffering. My family is wonderful, though! I do live alone, so my son and daughter will be helping me out after the surgery. The doctor wanted to do the surgery sooner, but I have a lot of things at home that I need to get in order. I hope I make it two more weeks! I hope things go well for you. When you are able, please let us know how you are. Thank you so much for your kindness and support!

Beckel

Hi Beckel! I have had two ACDF's; one of the C3/C4 in 2004 and one of the C5/C6 in 2006. So, you see, I have one (C4/C5) sandwiched in between. Your surgeon said the same thing my own did. And here it is 2012 and I am still doing well as far as my neck is concerned. It doesn't mean things won't go south but I have asked about the domino effect repeatedly. My own surgeon says it is not necessarily true. So, so far so good. It is my lumbar I have been dealing with lately. Anyway, good luck to you!

i completely understand what you all are going through. i just had acdf surgery on july 26, 2012 with a corpectomy, and some other things as well. i will get my exact surgical information on monday. i do know that i went to an orthopedic university doctor and that he replaced four discs and one vertabra and i have a titanium plate. i was afraid to have the surgery after reading so many scary stories, but the surgery went well. i do think it is a great idea to go to a spinal surgery class prior to having the surgery. i remember having so many questions, and i felt badly about emailing the nurse so many times for each one.

my main issues were:1. do i really have to have the surgery? my condition first came up in 2007 when one day i had the most excruciating headache in the world. i've had two children and other painful events, but nothing came close to this. i had to go to the hospital four times for pain shots during the six weeks that it took for them to diagnose what was going on (cervical spinal stenosis). each time that i forget, or couldn't get to take the pain medicine for whatever reason, the pain would come back so intensely that nothing but a round of three shots would get me back to where the pain meds could help. i finally got an mri and received three epidural injections and the pain went away. five years later, i had tingling in my right middle finger, pain in my neck, pain when walking, and i could almost never make it to the bathroom in time before peeing on myself. My original neurologist send me to get an mri and then sent me to a neurosurgeon. the original neurosurgeon said that there was spinal cord compression in three areas of my neck. he sent me to get another epidural injection (which did nothing for me this time), and told me that i could probably wait two to five years before having surgery. my condition worsened very quickly. now my left arm and legs started to lose sensation. it was such a strange sensation, and i started falling a lot. on one occasion, i went to the hospital after a fall because i had hit my head so hard. i went back to my neurologist and told him that i had not been able to tell the original neurosurgeon everything that i wanted to because my dominant mom was in the room and had basically dominated the entire office visit (even though i am 40years old!). he suggested that i email the doctor and tell him all of my symptoms, and i did. i immediately got an email back saying that he wanted to schedule surgery right away. that freaked me out, so i went to get a second opinion, same recommendation. the only question was whether or not to fix two or three levels. so i finally went to the emory university spinal center for a third opinion. i saw Dr Yoon, who was amazing. they scheduled my surgery and "did' all three levels plus the discotomy and other things that i will send later. the surgery was went well. the doctor said that when they took out the vertabra and discs, my spinal cord plumped back up beautifully (my words). i would definitely recommend emory university. he said that had i not had the surgery, i would probably have been in a wheelchair within a year or so. the sensation came back in my legs immediately and the priclking in my right arm worsened at first, but now has almost totally gone away.

i also felt anxious on the first night after the surgery. i woke up crying hysterically. they gave me a valium and an oxycontin (without acetaminophen). this calmed me down, but didn't really get rid of the pain in my back so i requested tylonol. this helped tremendously.

my other main issue prior to surgery was who would help take care of me post surgery, and of course money. the fact is that, unless you've been through something like this, no one understands. i am three weeks out, and people have been asking me to do things for them as if i did not just have surgery. everyone says i look fine, so i suppose they think i feel fine. at times this makes me angry, but we just have to realize that most people don't really care about anyone but themselves, sorry to sound so cruel. you will need help at least for the first week with the basics of life, and since i can't drive until 6 weeks post op, it is hard to find people to take my children to school, get to the pharmacy, etc.. try to organize as much as possible prior to surgery. ask friends or family to expect to help give you rides, etc.. and i'd say don't try to be a hero and not take your pain meds. they recommend that you walk at lest 15-20 mins every 2 hours post op. that doesn't mean you should do too much. just make sure you get out of bed and walk around at least every two hours. i am now up to walking at about 2.5-3.5 mph for two miles as many days as possible.

i gained 14 lbs since surgery. i coudn't figure it out at first. thought it might be constipation from the narcotics. then i wrote a list of what i'd been eating since i've been staying at my parents' house and i realize that this is probably the culprit. (cookies, ice cream, peanut butter, etc.. they love sweets). so prepare to have healthy, fiber rich foods in the house. I also had trouble swallowing a a slight sore throat for about a week. i ate tons of pop sickles which helped quite a bit. i start the day with a smoothie with fruit, milk thistle (an herb that helps the liver quite a bit in my experience. i took it to assist my liver while taking all of this medication), raw calcium, pro biotics, and rice milk. hope this helps.

luckily i had a friend who had had a lumbar fusion a few years ago. he lives out of town, but his encouraging emails really helped. also, i have had many lucid dreams. after a particularly frustrating day, i actually dreamy that i strangled someone! jut know that each day is different; some good, some better, and some not so great. breathe and just know that you are not alone.

Welcome to Neuro Talk. I found this site, pretty much in the same condition you are in. This surgery, can and does help alot of people. I had mine done two years ago. C3-7. I hope you have someone at home that can help for a few days. It does alot of good to have prepared meals, lots of stuff to drink. I took it real easy those first two weeks. I stayed in the hospital a day or so longer than what was recommended for pain issues. I was alright once I got home. Consider an elevated sloped pillow. It is also called a Wedge. This helped me more than any other thing to get confortable while I was in the neck collar. Sleep as much as you can. Let me know if there are any specific thing you are wanting to know. I wish you all the best, and a good recovery. ginnie

Hi, Beckel! I had a 3-level ACDF (C4-7) back in Nov with instumentation. The surgery was at 5 in the afternoon and I was up and getting around the hospital room the next morning at 0600! I went home that afternoon around 2. They sent me home with methocarbanal (a muscle relaxant) and percocet. I took them pretty much as recommended at first, but after a couple of days started trying to take less. I later learned that while it's ok to minimize the percocept, you should stay on track with the muscle relaxant because it helps the body heal faster. (Don't know if this is right, but was what I was told.)

My biggest problem was constipation -- I didn't do what they said re stool softeners and it took 7 days, many stool softeners, several sepositories, and 2 bottles of liquid laxative to finally get relief! So follow their instructions re that!

Ginnie is right about the wedge pillow. I didn't have a brace, but found that lying/sitting with a sloping pillow really helped with pain and getting comfortable.

The biggest advice though is to take it easy like they tell you re picking up things and doing too much. I found fatigue to be a big problem and several times I unconciously picked up things and did things I shouldn't. I set me back at one point as far the recovery went. So take of yourself and allow the body to heal. Just because you feel ok doesn't mean you can go back to your normal routine. Take the time they tell you before doing that!

Best wishes and prayers for a successful and speedy recovery!

Ladies, thank you all for such a warm welcome! I was unable to get on the computer this weekend, so I am just now catching up. Before I found this group, I joined another group and I certainly did not get the the support I needed from them. It was more like the "third degree" especially from one member who was a so called "self taught expert". I won't be going back to that board again. Tomorrow, I will be attending the spinal surgery class, doing the pre-op stuff and having a physical done. I had a few questions I thought I might ask. I've read that a lot of people sleep in a recliner for a while. Did any of you do this? Or would you recommend the wedge instead? Where can you purchase these wedges? Also, I read something about wearing clothes that button down the front, not pull over the head. Is there a specific reason for this? Can you not lift your arms over your head? Just curious about this. Of course, I am nervous and scared, but I am going into this with the attitude that it's going to work, that it will be ok. I just can't tolerate this pain much longer, and I hope and pray when I wake up from the surgery that it will be gone. Once again, thank you so much for your support. It really means a lot to me! Hope everybody has a good day!

Beckel

My surgery is in @ days and I am really nervous!!!! I hope this class answers all of your questions that arent here!!! Good luck!! Totally understand your apprehension!

mrsalkire, I will be thinking of you and sending good thoughts your way. I don't really know what the class will cover, but I hope it will help some. I'm really glad that it is a prerequisite for the surgery because I need to learn as much as I possible can. I know that it will be a while before you will be able to post after your surgery. I will be looking forward to hearing from you. Please take care!