Procedure note from the Orthopedic Surgeon: "It was noted that we had what appeared to be spinal fluid coming from the upper right most area at C4-5 from the dura." He nicked it during surgery.

My symptoms prior to the surgery were not too bad. I did start to have some balance issues and weakness in the arms. I had imaging done in early October 2024 that one of the impressions was described as "extremely severe" which got the ball rolling for the November 20. The Orthopedic Surgeon had ordered a CT w/o Contrast on October 28. This is the imaging where the impression noted the paralyzed left vocal cord. I was contacted and told I would need to be cleared by an ENT prior to the November 20 surgery proceeding, I was fortunate to get in to see an ENT that specialized in the throat. he cleared me for anterior, but the Orthopedic Surgeon ended up being conservative did not was to risk damage to the right vocal cord.

I am retired, since 1954. I opened a collectible toy store. between several hundred regulars I always had one an expert on what was going on with me. The reason I mention this, one of my regulars was a career postal employee, the surgery I had is very common with postal workers. He had it done by a neurosurgeon. He went on to tell me postal workers he knew that had the procedure done by neurosurgeon very seldom had complications and those that had an orthopedic surgeon tended to always have complications.