5 Cervical operations with another recommended

@evansunit1 That’s a gut punch to hear your surgeon’s recommendations. It sounds like you’ve had bone grow over your replaced discs. Spinal discs do not have a blood supply after a person has grown to adulthood. That affects the ability to heal. Bone has much more ability to regrow and fuse itself. A lot of us wish that stem cells could be a miracle. Mayo did have some success with stem cells for spinal cord injury, but it was very limited and most patients in the study didn’t have those results. I don’t know what options are available in other countries, and sometimes there are no real solutions and just failed promises. Research is always ongoing, so perhaps the future could bring better options.

I’m sorry you’re going through all of this. You’ve mentioned pain, but what about functioning? If you develop balance or bladder or bowel irregularity, that can come from spinal cord compression and may become permanent if not decompressed.

There are no easy answers and you have been through a lot. Spine surgery is always a compromise of what you give up in motion for better function and hopefully less pain, but surgeons usually don’t promise to reduce pain.

My first question is how old are you? How many more years do you realistically think you can continue to work 40 hours a week? And what do you actually do to make a living? I worked very physical jobs, driving a truck and delivering thousands of tons of products for more than 35 years.
I figured that I was indestructible and could do my job until I was 70 years old, that way our house would be paid off and we could retire comfortably. Turn's out I was wrong, I only made it to 56 before my body broke down and I could no longer do my job.
I had to walk away from my job and "retire", which meant having to sell our home and move in with our son and his family for 2 years. In the 10 years since this happened, I've had to undergo 2 separate spinal fusion procedures in my neck, at the C5-C6 level, and 18 months later at the C7-T1 level. The bones have fused at both levels, and I still have the hardware in my neck as well.
You can try and tough it out for as long as you are able, but eventually the surgery will become a necessity if you want to have any kind of quality of life. I thought that I could tough it out and keep doing my job, but my wife and our adult kids could see how I was struggling with pain. I worked 50-60 hours a week working a 4/10 schedule, and it destroyed me physically. It took an intervention by my wife, along with our kids and their spouses to finally convince me that I couldn't do it any more, and that my physical health was more important than a house.You should really weigh your options and do what's best for you and your family.

I have no idea if this is accurate but just passing it on. My pain doctor said stem cells do work but they have to be actual fetal stem cells not the kind are legal to use here. He has had patients go to Columbia and he said they had good results.