@kremer1 - Good morning. Let me have at your questions.

Yes - all presurgery bowel, bladder issues plus other sensations are 100% gone. As said, I still have some residual (but improving) tingling in my right thigh. I don't recall any other abdominal discomforts pre-surgery.

Yes, I had spondy in the lumbar region with stenosis throughout my spine. After much discussion, the surgeon and I decided on a three-part process: Cervical ACDF followed three months later by a two-part lumbar surgery using new titanium disks and titanium plates to properly secure the repaired spinal sections. We considered a "bigger" lumbar surgery from T10 - S1 but I felt that was too much for me to tolerate. We elected to do L2-5 and I'm rolling the dice on the surrounding spinal areas that show significant degeneration but were not surgically addressed.

There was never a discussion of titanium implants vs grafts. At some point, once I spent enough time with the surgeon gauging both his overall approach and strategy suggestions - I chose to just trust him and accept his surgical recommendations. I think my current condition suggests that was an acceptable strategy on my part.

I understand your dilemma. All spinal patients are faced with a very difficult decision! I saw that fork in the road as a personal risk management decision. What's riskier? Deferring surgery where I might delay to the point of developing permanent and irreversible nerve damage? Or actually having the surgery where there can be no certainty of outcome? You can ask a million questions yet still lack the perfect answer. At some point, you just have to chose and move forward.

You describe "some tingling" and you seem still quite active on exercise equipment. Those are all good signs that your issues are being managed successfully for now.