Cervical myelopathy at Jacksonville Mayo

@miked77 Mike, My experience with neurosurgery for cervical stenosis and myelopathy was at Mayo Rochester with Dr. Jeremy Fogelson who is excellent. I have talked a lot about him here on this forum.

You may also want to look at posts from another mentor, @upstatephil . You can search for his name and get a list of his posts to other members.

Here he is describing his experience with neurosurgery at Mayo Jacksonville.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/1062987/
In this post, he shared his surgeon's name.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/1066424/
The anterior approach to cervical spine surgery is not too bad. I had a single level fusion at C5/C6 and all of the spine generated pain I had was gone when I woke up from surgery. After that, I was left with the pain from the surgical path. I was able to manage without pain medicine after the surgery. Maybe not everyone can do that, but it nauseated me. There was healing pain that was tiring, and I slept a lot. I started PT after about 5 months. The first 3 months are waiting for the bones to fuse. I chose surgery without hardware, so I was in a neck brace for 3 months. That made my neck weak, and rehab was needed to strengthen it. I remember being very tired just holding my head up at that point. I had great results, and have no pain now related to my spine. I am 8 years past this surgery, and I have not had any other spine issues.

You may use this link to request an appointment at any Mayo campus. http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

Use this link to find information on compatible insurance. That might be different at different Mayo campuses.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/billing-insurance
Jennifer

@miked77 @jenniferhunter - How can I help?

I had a C4-C7 ACDF in Feb of 2023. The diagnosis included about every bad thing I could have wrong in my cervical region. The procedure was very straight forward from a patent's perspective. I went into the OR early in the afternoon, returned to recovery early in the evening. I stayed in my room for less than 24 hours and was discharged the next afternoon wearing a neck brace. Unlike Jennifer - I opted for hardware to be installed so I only wore the neck brace for 5-6 weeks.

Recovery was smooth and not difficult. Of course my physical activity was restricted but the only discomfort was my throat/esophagus which has to be "pushed out of the way" to get to the cervical spine. There was some residual inflammation and discomfort in that region. I took aspirin only after the first 24 hours.

I am almost 18 months post-ACDF and feel fine. The scar is nearly invisible. My neck's range of motion is permanently restricted by the plates that were installed - but the range I have now is better than it was before surgery. All cervical pain and symptoms are gone - making the challenges of my surgery well worth it.

As a side note - I also had similar surgery in the lumbar region which was much more difficult. Best of luck. What questions can I address for you?

Phil: thank you for the info. Glad you are doing well. Did you have problems in your hand (fine motor issues) before surgery and did surgery help?
Also what surgeon did you use at Jacksonville Mayo?
Thanks

@miked77 - My only hand issues are related to numbness in the last two fingers of both hands. I am 17 months post-cervical surgery and I still have some residual numbness in my left hand. Damaged nerves are extremely slow to regenerate so my expectations are the numbness will continue to resolve over the long term. Otherwise, all other cervical issues have been 100% resolved.

I used Dr. Pirris who specializes in complex back surgeries. I was very pleased with all aspects of my interactions with Dr. Pirris.