@rickyandval You are welcome! I want to wait until spring because I had a 3 level lumbar laminectomy and fusion this past March and want that to be fully healed before I go ahead with the cervical surgery. I have an appt in February to discuss the cervical surgery with my spine surgeon. I am going to try to tell him I would prefer to have the 2 step procedure because I am terrified of the throat problems after a long anterior approach. The 2 step procedure allows for a shorter retraction time for the trachea and esophagus. Are you having your surgery soon? Let us know when you do. I will be very interested in following your course, for obvious reasons.