@amywood20
Hi!
It was suggested I share my story.
Over a decade ago I had pain in my neck that radiated into my shoulder.
I went to a pain doc and got injections.
The injection lasted YEARS!!!!!
In addition, I had horrible pain in my left shoulder.
Turns out I tore cartilage.
I had surgery to repair it then PT.
I lifted weights and believe it was that which caused the tear.
My PT said no weights.
My surgeon said weights were fine.
I listened to my surgeon and retore the cartilage.
After the second surgery, I waited to lift until PT said it was fine.
No problems.
About 1-1/2 years ago, I started getting horrible headaches that woke me up each morning.
After being up about 15 min the pain would go away.
However, when sitting, if my head was not resting agaist the back, I'd get terrible neck and shoulder pain.
My pain doc was not able to hit the right spot to give me relief.
It was at that point and because my lumbar spine was also giving me issues, that I decided it was time to see a neurosurgeon.
Both my cervical and lumbar spines are pretty messed up.
He decided to do the cervical furst.
Now I know why, it's less painful and easier to recover.
Symptoms worsened while I waited fir surgery.
Head and all the way to the finger tips with pain and tingling.
I had C5/6 replaced with artificial discs.
Within days, all the symptoms were gone, including the surgical pain
I was told before surgery that the % of failed replacements is very low and he only had to remove the artificial discs once.
Well, it's now been a bit over a year and I am starting to get symptoms again.
They aren't as bad as before, but I didn't want to wait.
I saw my surgeon and had some tests.
I feel several months ago and probably nudged the discs.
There is also something else he saw.
Bottom line, I am having a shot for dx purposes and another surgery is likely.
He will probably remove the artificial discs and do a fusion.
There is another area in trouble, too.
While he is in there, he'll most likely do that, too.
I honestly hoped to stay away from fusions.
The weight of the fusion often impacts the discs above and below, which likrely will result in a fusion there, too.
This failure had NOTHING to do with the quality of surgery.
It is probably because of the fall AND/OR my body rejecting the discs.
I have found that if you continue to baby yourself like you do right after surgery, the surgery will not fail.
Sadly, many people feel so good, they go right back to their life like before surgery, that caused the issues in the first place.
Hope this helps...
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)