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ACDF surgery recommended for C3-C7 - is it worth it?
Spine Health | Last Active: Nov 9 6:00pm | Replies (19)Comment receiving replies
56yo active female here. I'm curious if you have had the surgery? I am 7 weeks out from a 4 level ACDF. C3-C7.
My MRI looked a lot like yours at the time of my surgery. I waited almost 15 years to have the surgery bc I had 2 kids at home. Now they're in college and even with having Cervical Spine Ablations, I couldn't handle the pain any longer. I no longer have that pain that's stolen so many of my years, but now I have a few other new issues. I developed GERD from the over 5 hours of holding my esophagus out of the way and also have dysphagia that I don't see clearing up any time soon. Curious if you have any of these collateral damages as well and what you're doing about it? Or if you're doing anything?
I hope you've found relief!
Replies to "56yo active female here. I'm curious if you have had the surgery? I am 7 weeks..."
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@mmanniko Hello and welcome to Connect. I'm not sure if you addressing a specific person here, so you might get responses from anyone. If you do want to address a specific member, for example, if I type @mmanniko you will get a notification sent to you to flag this post.
I had a C5-C6 ACDF, and had some swallowing issues for a couple weeks. I just had to be extra careful because it was like half of my throat didn't know what to do. Your surgery was more extensive and it hasn't been very long in your recovery. If you are still having issues after the fusion has set, your surgeon can send you for some physical therapy for swallowing. Hopefully the inflammation will subside by then. Therapy may be with a speech pathologist. My dad went through this because of a head injury where he lost he ability to swallow and he had to relearn it.