@mincer I had one level C5/C6 that was compressing my spinal cord with bone spurs and a collapsed disc and I also had an uneven gait when walking. I had muscle spasms in my neck that moved my vertebrae around that caused the gait weakness and problems emptying my bladder because it increased the pressure on the spinal cord by essentially making the spinal canal smaller. This would progress to incontinence if left untreated. I did not have arthritic bone growth in the foramen (which is the space between vertebrae where the nerve roots exit the spine.) I did have pain all over my body caused by cord compression. Nerve injuries can become permanent, so it is important to have surgery that decompresses the nerves and spinal cord before the injury is permanent. Excess compression of the spinal cord kills the nerves cells and they literally dissolve and show up on an MRI as a white area. As the discs collapse the bones get closer together and can start to fuse on their own which might make this inoperable. You don't really know at what stage the damage becomes permanent. Right before I had surgery, if I bent my neck forward, it sent a electric shock down my entire body. I have seen posts of someone who had spinal cord compression and chose not to have surgery and the posts describe how she is wheelchair bound, and in constant pain. I think we are fortunate that we have a choice to avoid disability with decompression surgery. It is a big step and you need complete trust in your surgeon. Hopefully you have a good one. It took me 2 years to find a surgeon who would help me and it that time, I lost about half of my muscle mass in my arms and shoulders to atrophy. After surgery, I got a lot of muscle back, but not all of it, so I still have a deficit of about 25%. 5 local surgeons refused my case, and I came to Mayo and had surgery that changed my life. I'm planning on being around for a long time, so don't put a time limit on yourself. If you think like that, you can make it come true.

Everyone is different, and with multiple levels, your surgery would be more extensive than mine and probably a longer recovery than mine. The surgery was not as bad as I thought it would be, and not as painful as I imagined. The first couple weeks are painful with throat pain because of the incision and frontal surgical path. If you have surgery through the back of the neck, it hurts more according to my surgeon. I felt pretty good and didn't have pain at 6 weeks. I didn't want to take pain meds because of breathing issues and didn't want drugs affecting that, so I didn't take pain meds at all after I left the hospital. I was nauseated by it anyway, and then taking anti-nausea meds. I was fine without them and just slept. I felt good at 3 months, and did rehab because my neck muscles were weak from being in a hard collar for 3 months. I had a fusion without hardware which was possible because it was a single level, so I had to stay immobilized until the bone fusion began at 3 months. Recently, I broke my ankle and that was so much more painful and for many months longer than my cervical spine surgery. I had great results. I was 59 when I had my spine surgery. If you smoke, that will affect bone healing because you would have lower oxygen levels in your body. I don't smoke. Many surgeons will ask patients to quit smoking before spine surgery. That can cause a fusion to fail. Do ask lots of questions of your surgeon. I don't know if you are able to get a 2nd or third opinion, but it helps you understand and make a good decision. Let me know if you have other questions. I am glad I had spine surgery and would do it again if it becomes necessary.

Here is my patient story.
https://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2019/01/09/using-the-art-of-medicine-to-overcome-fear-of-surgery/