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← Return to ACDF and recovery post-op?
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Jennifer, thanks for thinking of me. Overall, nothing has changed. It seems impossible, but it is true. The only good news is that my C5 nerve palsy is better after 3 weeks of PT. Not 100% but it looks like it will be okay.
I go back and see my surgeon on Mar. 1, so it will be interesting to see what he says.
By "the same" I mean: numbness and tingling down my right arm, with the worst being my right hand and thumb and index finger. Sometimes bad shoulder pain. I have some now on left arm and hand that is worse than before. I still have issues with my gait and my feet and toes have sharp nerve reactions to touch.
My ACDF did NOT touch C6-C7 which is the classic cause of the radiculopathy I have in my right hand. But both surgeons did NOT indicate that that was my most pressing issue.
I am still hoping that more time will help. Otherwise it would appear that I have permanent nerve damage.
I will try and post again after next week.
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@birdman518 Thanks for the update, Mitch. I am glad that you can remain hopeful and I'm really glad the C5 palsy is resolving. Still, it is early, and it may take a long time until you know how things will turn out. If you do have nerve damage, at least you know that the decompression surgery stopped the progression of that. Nerves do take a very long time to heal.
I may have a little nerve damage because of my ankle fracture which left that leg a bit smaller and with weakness for doing heel raises, essentially using the muscles that you push off of your toes with when walking. Just yesterday, I suddenly had pain on the bottom of my foot, and couldn't push off. Suddenly my strength was gone. So I did some moving of the joint to circle it around which makes it crack and can realign it. It's not perfect because I lost some cartilage to the injury and the joint space is smaller, but I did get back the strength after I did this. It was so weird. The alignment of ankle bones must have shifted and pressed on that nerve which probably has some damage anyway.
So that also raises the question for you if there are other places along the nerve pathways that could be compromised in your arms or shoulders that may contribute to the numbness. I have that issue with my thoracic outlet syndrome which does cause numbness in my arms from time to time, and it is more common in spine patients because of whiplash type injuries that can cause both problems. My PT works on this a lot. You may also still have a lot of inflammation left from the spine surgery itself.
Thanks, again for your update.
Jennifer