@lorihgk
I am also 55 and had ACDF surgery on C5-C6 in 2022 and decompression/fusion of L3-L5 in 2024. I may also need ACDF surgery on C6-C7 in 2025 due to a herniated disc impacting my spinal cord.

Do you have disc bulges/herniations C2-T2? What is the reason for such extensive surgery/fusion/hardware? Doing the surgery from the front is much less painful than the back due to cutting through muscle in the back. My lumbar surgery was done from the back and it was a pain level of 11/12 out of 10. It was extremely painful. I could not really drive for 4 weeks and in so much pain when I got home I could not really function for quite a while. Getting in and out of bed was very difficult and managing pain/discomfort took time. They said it takes about 3 months to fuse and it could take 6 months to a full year to determine the impact of the surgery. I am 6 months post surgery and doing much better now but really relief on getting help doing housekeeping, shopping/errands, walking dogs, taking care of teen son, caring for cats, etc.

Since you are having your neck/upper back mostly impacted, you may have issues using arms/hands as usual due to muscles being cut into. Sleeping and lifting/picking up things may be a challenge for a while. I had a cervical pillow to sleep on when having my ACDF surgery. Keep in mind that bending over may be hard with incisions on front and back of neck (squatting may be necessary to support neck).