Hey everyone, thank you all SO much for thinking of me and your support! Got home from hospital last night and surgery went well. Doc said the protrusion was pretty significant so I'm glad that I made this decision. Its great to be home finally and in my own bed. Nights seem to be the worst time for me...very painful. I don't know what I would do without the Percocet. When the painkillers are working I feel pretty good but without them, its excruciating...then again this is only day three. I am pretty upwardly mobile though. Can take walks with no problem and do most things on my own. The neck brace is quite annoying but makes me feel a lot more stable. I feel like I will break like a twig when its off although that may be more psychological. Overall, I guess I'm progressing pretty well. Sore throat absolutely sucks but I'm able to eat normally etc. How is everyone else feeling?

Hi Dave --glad you posted. I was able to eat as well-- but throat was sore first week. Sleeping good takes some time---night is always the worst. I had this love/hate relationship with the neck brace its nice for the support but gets annoying as well. Before surgery I felt very unstable like my neck was going to snap off --lol---after i felt more secure. The walks help alot --this surgery sucks your energy level to zero plus i had really tight traps-- the walking helped alot to loosen them up. Glad to hear your doing pretty well--keep me updated. Im sure your happy the worst part is over and your on the mend now

Glad to hear you are doing good post-surgery. I agree about having a love hate relationship with the neck brace. I still have about 5 more weeks with it on. I so can't wait to ditch that thing but at the same time, I feel safer with it on. I am now 29 days post-op. I'm walking 3-5 miles per day on average. I'm working from home. I went in to the office on Monday for 4 hours and needed to take a 2 hour nap when I got home. I was surprised by how wiped out I was. I also just got back in to my bed this past weekend. It's nice not to be in the recliner! Anyways, wishing you a speedy recovery.

Mega,

I'm curious why you are going for ACDF over ADR, I have muscle weakness due to nerve damage, if I had to do surgery, which I hope I dont I'd go for ADR.

I went for the ADR initially but the insurance wouldn't cover it because I have another herniated disc at C5-C6 (without nerve compression). Insurance company claims that ADR is not effective for two levels if the other nerve gets compressed in the future and they have to do it again...guess they don't want to just throw an artificial disc in the trash after paying so much for it. So they just did the ACDF one level with hope that the other one won't protrude.

Had another pretty bad night last night. Nights and early mornings seem to be the worst. I do not take the Percocet during overnight hours in order to give my body time away from them. Then I wake up in the morning feeling like I just got ran over by a Mack Truck...whole body hurts and I can barely swallow. It sucks but I know it will get better eventually. How is everyone else feeling today?

[Had another pretty bad night last night. Nights and early mornings seem to be the worst. I do not take the Percocet during overnight hours in order to give my body time away from them. Then I wake up in the morning feeling like I just got ran over by a Mack Truck...whole body hurts and I can barely swallow. It sucks but I know it will get better eventually. How is everyone else feeling today? [/QUOTE]


Dave it was the same for me around week three-- you will start to notice improvement. I was on oxy helped take the edge off but gave me wicked headaches so they switched me to vicodin --it worked the best for me. The throat take a solid week to feel better I could eat but taking pills would get stuck thats because they moved it all to the side-- wind pipe etc....staws helped me if i sucked the water fast to get them down. Just don't lift anything or bend to much esp now. Walk alot is the main thing that will help you and try to stay on top of the pain by taking the pills on time.

Dude, that sucks about the multiple level problems.. That is an FDA issue that needs to be resolved, apparently they have been doing multiple lever ADR for years... I hope your recovery goes well...

Yeah its complete BS. They weren't even operating on the other herniated one (c5-c6) because it isn't compressing the nerve like I was on C6-C7. Even if you have the slightest herniation on anymore than one disc, insurance will deny ADR and claim there is no evidence that it is effective for more than one level...so they SAY. Bottom line is, they will come up with any way they can to get out of it because ADR is so expensive...they aren't concerned about our well beings, just money