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← Return to Spinal fusion of C1-C6
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@jojo58 Severe cervical stenosis is something that can cause a lot of disability in the rest of your body with every signal from your brain passing through there. It can cause permanent damage to the spinal cord if not treated or paralysis. I have a fusion at C5/C6 which I had when I was about your age. Recovery is different for everyone, but many patients who go back to work too early say that they never healed right and live with pain. I chose to have a fusion with no hardware, and only had a donor bone disc. I wore a neck brace for 3 months and had to do that until the fusion process started. I was off for at least 5 months without trying to do anything. I was going to rehab because after 3 months in a neck brace, the neck muscles are weak and need to be taught how to do their job again. What I see as a problem for a cashier is that you will be looking down a lot at items a customer is purchasing. That likely will cause headaches and neck pain because the levels of C2-C4 are involved in neck bending and head turning. C1 & C2 do most of the work in head turning with help from C3 and C4. That can cause stress to the other levels above and below the fusion which can lead to more spine surgery down the road. If you can find a way to keep your neck straight and head level after surgery, your spine would be happier about that.
A lot of doctors don't want to work on levels this high in C spine. The nerves that go to the lungs exit the spine around C3 and they don't want to risk damage to your breathing. You can ask about that. Do you also have stenosis at the nerve roots too or just in the central canal?
Are you going to get any second opinions? That is always a good idea with major surgery.
Replies to "@jojo58 Severe cervical stenosis is something that can cause a lot of disability in the rest..."
Good morning, I am sorry that you’re going through this and not knowing what to do I think compounds everything. We decided to get a second opinion 3 yrs ago on my nrck and we went to the Miller’s school of medicine in Miami. The top surgeon wanted to fuse my entire cervical spine the same as you pretty much. My pain management doctor in Naples told me that they do not know you there you are a case number during the surgery he’s teaching all of his students what he’s doing. In the end you don’t have a relationship with these people make sure that whoever operates on you is someone you trust explicitly and preferably someone you have a relationship with. We elected not to do the surgery there but instead with my neurosurgeon where I live . I only had my 6-7 fused, my 5-6 was fused a little over two weeks ago. Good luck with your decision
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I’ve talked to 3 different surgeons. My whole C Spine is compressed and 1 wanted to lay the whole back of my neck open. I do have a lot of medical knowledge. I have both CNA certificates and my aunt is a nurse with multiple specialties. I wasn’t going back to him. I know the stenosis needs to be fixed and no guarantee of any pain relief. I do a lot of research on doctors I go to after I see who I was referred to. None of those 3 qualify as far as I’m concerned. I want to get back to riding my motorcycle and they all said not until 6 months after surgery. Another problem is for long term disability my company only pays 40%. But I’m a self checkout cashier and it’s a lot different than regular. I had to quit regular cashier because of the pain. I’m going to a neurologist head doctor for my constant headache and migraines. Maybe he will have someone in mind better. They forced me to take intermittent FMLA for the head and neck pain. This is a high end grocery store and they don’t pay much. I know I have to have another MRI. The other thing is how long do I wait? None of them said anything about time frame, like I should really do it before end of year or anything. I asked and they didn’t seem to be too concerned. My orthopedic is more concerned than the surgeons were. Does the pain ever get any better? I feel exhausted from it all the time.