@msmith49 I wanted to welcome you to Connect. You'll find a lot of members here with experience in cervical spine fusion surgery including myself. I see you've already met Phil. I had a fusion of C5/C6 done with no hardware and only a bone graft, so I stayed in a neck brace for 3 months which is how long it took for the fusion process to secure the bones. I was scared too, and when you are entering an unknown, that's a normal feeling. I did not think this surgery was bad at all. It was tiring while I I was healing and I slept a lot because my body needed the rest, but I didn't use pain medicine. It nauseated me, and it wasn't so bad, so I just accepted the pain as healing pain. I can tell you that fracturing my ankle was far worse pain and disability than my cervical spine surgery and for a much longer period of time. Since you've been through knee replacements, this should be an easier recovery since you are not dealing with bearing most of your body weight on the operated area.

Here are some other recent discussions about cervical spine surgery where you may meet and learn from other members.

Spine Health - "Has anyone dealt successfully with Cervical stenosis without surgery?"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cervical-stenosis-1/
Spine Health - "Cervical disks and heaviness and numbness in legs"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cervical-disks-and-heaviness-and-numbness-in-legs/
Spine Health - "Cervical fusion of C3-C7 after L4-L5 and S1 - What to expect?"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/post-lumbar-sacral-fusion-issues/