@hat First let me welcome you to Connect. Surgery is always a choice that has to be considered carefully and balance the risks against the rewards. May I ask how physically active are you? Do you enjoy walking and get a bit of exercise for your health? How is your balance? Can you get up from a chair easily?

With aging, for some people, these can be challenges, and possibly lead to a fall. Your surgeon makes a good point, that a fall in your condition can lead to paralysis. I've seen both of my elderly parents fall, get injured, and then require wheelchairs. Fall prevention is really important with aging, spine surgery or not. I have heard of other patients with no pain who are shocked to learn that they have severe spinal stenosis. When you have a vertebrae that can slip and move a lot, it has potential to damage the spinal cord by contacting it. With enough constant pressure on the spinal cord, parts of it can start to die and dissolve, creating disability in what ever body part it were servicing.

There will be trade offs to having surgery with loss of movement of the spine. Spinal stenosis can also lead to incontinence which can become permanent if the spinal cord is not decompressed with surgery. There may be a window of time where you could benefit from surgery, and if you wait too long, it may be too hard on your body to recover or your spine could start fusing itself because of collapsed discs. I don't know when that would be, but it may be worth asking about.

I had spine surgery because of a collapsed C5/C6 disc and also had retrolisthesis. For me surgery was a good choice and I got my life back. There can also be risks to the surgery such as a paralyzed vocal cord from a frontal approach, and difficulty swallowing which could lead to aspiration. Often aspiration pneumonia is a big problem in the elderly. You have to think about how your condition can change as you age further and what gives you the most benefit for preventing problems that could develop. Aspiration was an issue for my dad. These are just a few examples, and it is a big surgery with a long recovery time, but I am so glad I did this. I was in my late 50's at the time.

I would like to ask my fellow mentor Chris @artscaping , if she could share her experience of spine surgery, and also other surgery as an older patient, and the recovery time.

What questions can you think of that you would like to ask your doctors?

I have 'severe degenerative disc disease (myelopathy and stenosis) beginning at c4-c5, and crud up and down my neck.

My neurologist referred me to a pain specialist who wanted to give me shots. But when I told him I was sign up for PT for sciatica an lumbar, he said he'd just add cervical PT to what I was already to get.

I don't have much PAIN in my neck now, but the degeneration of use of my left hand and arm continues, as do other indirect neuropathy, neuralgia, and radiculopathy effects.

I know three people who have had their necks operated on. Two of them some 30 years ago. In those two, one have never missed a beat once his support came off. The other has been on heavy duty narcotic pain stuff since, and has developed several 'disabilities' - some due to pieces off bone left in. His productive life was basically ruined. The third was more recent, within the past five years, and ALSO came out more disabled than he went in. The surgeon copped to touching a nerve. I know HE was doing rehab/PT but have not spoken with him for a spell.

When mine was first discovered MANY tears a go, I opted OUT of the blade. I also had no idea it would digress this far.

Keep us posted.

FYI - closing in on seventy male.