I have degenerative cervical myelopathy, DCM. I have been told that it is a "spinal cord injury in slow motion" and (if I live long enough, or am injured in the right way) that it will eventually cause me to become a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. I have no idea if surgery would be able to fix this degenerative cervical myelopathy. The problem is that I have so many comorbidities that I'm not considered to be a viable candidate for surgery. I have 5 serious birth defects, at least 15 autoimmune diseases/disorders, the majority of them are considered rare, and so many complications from the autoimmune diseases, Parkinson's, MS, Polymyositis, too many to write down, as well as Lewy Body Dementia, which does not allow me to have any general anesthesia at all. I've had 2 procedures without any anesthesia but I can tell you that the pain of being cut open without anesthesia is the worst pain in the world. The only way I got through it was knowing that it would end once they sewed me up. And the longest time was 45 minutes. But there's no way I could have spinal surgery or brain surgery (which I do need for the numerous arachnoid cysts I have, & also to fix the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) leak I have inside my cranium, there's a hole somewhere in the dura mater) without anesthesia. But general anesthesia for someone with Lewy is likely to outright kill them, put them in a persistent vegetative state, or they die a few weeks or months later. Why go through all the pain of surgery (not to mention the expense), just to die anyway or to become a cabbage? I'm already in a wheelchair from the MS, the Polymyositis, Dermatomyositis, and god knows what else. I live with no hope for a better day because every day is worse. I've been sick most of my life. During the small periods when I felt normal, I was a long distance hiker on the Appalachian Trail, alone, no cell phones in those days, saw bears, deer, wonderful warblers & other birds, went on birdwatching trips to other countries, drove back & forth all over NAFTA (USA, Mexico, Canada), so at least I got to do some fun things long ago. Now I'm in a recliner all day, socially isolated, can't get out and about because I'm in too much pain, plus no ramps anywhere for my wheelchair. I listen to audio books, a few hobbies I can do from my recliner, on oxygen.