Mary,
I'm responding because I have lived with all these same symptoms so I will relay my experience. It will be beneficial to get several opinions and if you haven't been seen at Mayo, I highly recommend it. That is where I had my surgery for cervical stenosis, and all of my symptoms were resolved by my surgery.
It was about 3 years from my first symptom (ankle pain when I turned my head) to my surgery when I had many more symptoms. I had a whiplash 20 years ago and had foot drop back then which resolved, by this returned again when my spine issues began years later. I also have thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) which causes arm pain and weakness. I was in physical therapy for TOS when my spine symptoms started. Muscle spasms were moving my neck vertebrae around which would increase pressure on my spinal cord and I would get foot drop intermittently. When my therapist worked on me and treated the spasms and gently nudged things back where they should be, I walked normally again. The level of my bad disc would cause arm pain as well as the TOS. I had a compressed spinal cord, and spasms that twisted, tilted and turned my vertebrae increased all my symptoms. I was turned down by 5 surgeons who misunderstood my case before I came to Mayo over 2 years time. During that time, my pain increased and was everywhere in my body. It got bad enough that if I bent my neck, I sent an electric bolt pain down my entire body. I lost about 50% of muscle mass in my arms and shoulders and was getting sharper stabbing pain beyond the tingling and pins and needles. I had places that were getting numb. I could see on my MRIs that in 9 months time, the bone spurs had doubled in size with all of it pressing into my spinal cord in my neck. I was loosing the ability to hold my arms up. Driving was very painful and fatiguing and it sent sharp pain down my arms. I am an artist and was loosing the ability to hold my arms up and loosing the coordination in my hands. My wonderful Mayo surgeon saved my ability to work as a fine artist, and to thank him, I painted his portrait as a gift. It was really for both of us and I could prove to myself that I was regaining my ability, and it was to thank him for the gifts he returned to me. I am 20 months post op now, and my lost muscles are slowing coming back with my progress in physical therapy and exercise. It is a slow recovery and for me this was life changing. I suggest you track your symptoms in dated diagrams and journals so you will know if they change. You can develop permanent damage and disability with spine problems. In general, an earlier intervention is better for your recovery, but only a surgeon could answer that for your specific case. Choose your surgeon carefully. I would recommend getting other opinions now and learning about your options. If you wait, you may find yourself with urgent surgery and no time to get other opinions if you suddenly got worse. The last surgeon I saw prior to Mayo wasted 6 months getting tests, and then decided not to help me. I came to Mayo and had an offer for surgical help in a week. I've had a great recovery and regard my surgeon highly. If I should I ever need spine surgery again, I will come back to Mayo. You may need to advocate for yourself for imaging to track the progression of your symptoms which are warranted if you are getting worse. I hope all that information helps in your journey. I did everything I could to have a great outcome before and after surgery and it was very successful. I'm not back to 100% strength yet, but I am making great progress and doing my paintings again.

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