Hi Kathi!!

Yep, all is well here ... and for the desk work, my husband bought me an ergonomic monitor stand. So I can pull it toward me and move it up and down - it's helped a LOT. I'm still on the Flexeril at night. And today, oddly enough, I am having trouble with "the lump." Haven't had much problem up to now, but today it is really bugging me!!

Nope, I don't regret it either!
Kelly

Well, the surgeon said it couldn't have went better. It took almost 2 hours (surgery time) and I spent one night in the hospital. Woke up in recovery with a hard brace on and a drain tube in. The tube was removed yesterday morning and I am only allowed to remove the hard brace if I am sitting still in my chair, otherwise have to wear it for 10 days while riding, walking and sleeping. Not sure how I injured it and the doc feels like it is likley tied to wrestling, football, rugby and soccer and just crept up on me over time. I woke up in recovery with no pain in my arm, shoulder or neck, although I am tender and sore around the tops of my shoulders and in front of my neck where the cut was made. Cut is about 5" in length and I get the stitches out on the 14th. No problems swallowing and only felt like I had a slight sore throat for a few hours in fact I was back on solid foods for breakfast the next morning. I am very happy with the results so far. Now I plan to relax this week, while working from home off and on and staying ahead of the pain. I did get a little sick feeling in the hospital but I think it was from the morphine drip which I completley wheened myself from by 6:15 Monday nite and started taking 2-5 mg Oxycodone every 3-4 hours instead. The woosiness went away as soon as the morphine wore off.

Well, I am 1 week post-install and feeling great!! I am completely off all pain meds and only taking a few Tylenol each day. The brace is a little easier to sleep with now and I hope to have it off entirely, along with the stitches being pulled, on Thursday. This was the best decision I have made in a long time!!

Congratulations Draw4u on your successful outcome. You must be over the moon.
What have you planned to celebrate?

I'm happy for you, that the surgery was such a success.

I'm one of those people who had terrible things going on by the time I got my surgery for cervical stenosis, which fused C4 - C6. Apparently I came very close to total paralysis, which seems to be so rare that nobody talks about it. Before the surgery, I had severe pain from head to toe and could barely move. For a couple of hours each day, my arms would go completely numb and useless from elbow to fingertip, and it felt like I had two baseball bats for arms. The feeling and movement would gradually come back to my arms, but they remained stiff and painful all day, and my hands barely worked. My legs were also stiff and heavy feeling, as though gravity had increased by tenfold, and I could not coordinate their movement.

I had my surgery just over a year ago, and I still have neck and shoulder pain, and other problems, but nonetheless, I consider the surgery a success. I'm overjoyed. I can use my hands again, and I can put one foot in front of another again. I can type on my keyboard without feeling as though my fingers are touching hot coals. I can do so many things I thought I'd never be able to do again. Even though I've still got pain, it's wonderful. I think if I had not had to wait so long for the surgery (due to lack of insurance), I would have had a quick and complete recovery, but I'm happy with what I've got.

My only problem is that now I think I also have spinal stenosis in my lower back, but that's another story.