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Anyone who has had Cervical spinal compression surgery
I have to have spinal cord compression surgery in September. I have to have C4-5 and C5-6 removed with something like cages replacing the discs and fusion of a plate and screws. I am terrified and I cannot find anyone that has had this surgery. I don't know what to expect and I feel so lost. I have to have a 4 inch incision in the front of my neck and wear a neck brace 24/7 for 6 weeks. I have had two total knee replacements that were excruciating pain. Anyone who has had this done please tell me what to expect. I need to be prepared for the pain so please honestly how bad is it going to be? Thank you
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I have had an ACDF 5/6 in 2021 for numbness and pain in left arm and into fingers and loss of function with the arm and hand. Also diagnosed with cervical spondylosis with central canal stenosis from C3-C7 due to various levels of disc and osteophyte complexes among other things.
My ACDF surgery went well although very long as they were supposed to do two levels but because of the length of doing one they decided not to do the other one - which is coming back to haunt me.
My only problems that really bother me from the frontal surgery is that I cannot swallow anything every now and then like taking my medications which sometimes refuse to go down sometimes. Bread and water helps a lot to get meds down. Also if I talk for a few minutes I go horse and my voice starts to go away.
Surgery always had its trade offs my neurosurgeon told me. Rarely is an operation done without some side effects supposedly. Do I regret having the surgery? No I don’t as the few lingering problems are small compared to having use of my left arm.
I hope a neurosurgeon is doing your surgery. Over 10 years ago I had a C 5-6-7 fusion anterior route with one cage during a 3.5 hour surgery. I had minimal pain after and wore a neck brace for one month except for showering or sleeping. What a relief it was to get rid of the severe neck pain. I could not do anything except for walks for one month. Hope you surgery is successful