@wzinck Something to understand about surgery is that it increases inflammation A LOT. Inflammation is part of the healing process after trauma. The problem that you have before surgery that is being caused by compression and inflammation, can continue to have some of the same symptoms even though the surgery has decompressed that problem. Inflammation escalates at about 3 days after surgery and can go on for awhile. A member I was communicating with here was having the symptoms for about 6 weeks after cervical surgery, and then it started getting better and she was improving to better than before the surgery as expected. If your friend is early in the post surgery timeline, it may be too early to tell. The surgeon would be able to comment on what is an expected condition at this time, and what recovery may be possible. Surgeons don't want to promise a lot because they can't know exactly how well a patient will recover. There is a lot that goes into that with the determination and work at rehab by the patient, and treatment like physical therapy when it is appropriate.