I am so sorry to hear this. I had an anterior cervical discectomy w fusion at C4 & C5 in 2011. It helped my arm pain, numbness and tingling. In the ensuing years I began to develop increased neck pain around the sides and back of my neck, shoulder discomfort also. Sometime before Covid hit I had two more neurosurgery opinions at two different facilities and both surgeons saw my then newest imaging and recommended posterior approach (from back of neck). Explained what my problems were/are. I chose to say no for several reasons. I have pain daily but in my 70’s, was a RN, and just basically tired of surgeries even though all were needed and helped. Plus I live alone, have dogs. I just can’t deal with it anymore! I take a small and stable dose of narcotics before bedtime so pain doesn’t keep me awake. Can’t take NSAIDs because of GERD and acetaminophen seems to do nothing for this kind of pain.