Cervical C4-5, C5-6, C6-7 Prodisc - Mr. D

[MR D]

I had my surgery on March 10, 2008 at St. Johns in Santa Monica through The Spine Institute of Santa Monica, Dr. Kropf. Started at 5 pm ended around 8:15 pm. I woke up with a hard collar on and spent 3 hours in recovery. The pain was at an 8 until they got my pain to a manageable level and they gave my steroids to manage the swelling.

I then spent 24 hours in ICU (as a precaution, because of my narrow airway problems - they were worried about the swelling closing off my airway). And they gave me a pain pump to use until Wednesday morning. And I was given antibiotics and fluid via IV. 24 hours after surgery I convinced them to let me get out of bed and sit in a chair (couldn't get comfortable in bed and my butt was sore). I had no problems standing and had great stability, they were very surprised. That night my doctor came in to see me and told me that they would probably let me go home on Thursday, a day early.

I was released on March 13. I had very little swelling overall. I expected it to be a lot worse. I had no major headaches after surgery. My neck was very sore in the back, and I had pain in the center of my back/shoulder. I had to sleep at a 40 degree angle for the first week. It hurt too bad to lean back.

Swallowing has been almost no problem. I did have problems with nausea in the hospital and the liquid medicine made it worse. At home, on Saturday morning, the nausea returned and I was sick throwing up for half the day. I took some anti nausea meds and felt better, avoiding the emergency room.

Most of my pre-surgery pain is gone. I can tell that I'm not a stiff as I was before surgery, even though I'm still wearing the hard collar. I do have pain lifting my arms, and I'm not supposed to. I have periods when I feel great and periods when I'm not feeling so great, so I try to remember the periods when I'm not feeling so great to help me be good and take it easy.

I had a lot of assistance in the beginning and not so much now my wife is back to work. My kids have been helping me some as well. I go back to my doctor in a week and then I'll be able to find out how much longer I'll be wearing the hard collar. My doctor is making me follow all the rules as if I've had fusion (I guess because I had 3 levels done). I guess being conservative is okay.

I'll write more after my doctor appointment next week.

Mr. D

[Terry]

Congratulations on what sounds like a very successful surgery. Be careful to not push yourself too hard at first and allow yourself time to heal. Even though my experience has been that cervical ADR is easier recovery than lumbar it is still major surgery.

Listen to your body and keep posting. We will help you normalize what you are going through.

Terry Newton

[sahuaro]

Congratulations, Mr. D! I had the extreme variations in energy level for several weeks following surgery. Just stay ahead of the pain with your meds and follow all directions.
Wishing you continued good recovery.

[Harrison]

D, thanks for sharing your story and helping others! Take it slow, let's catch up again soon.

[berry]

Well done Mr D on your successful cervical surgery.

Best wishes for a smooth and uneventful recovery.

Lynda

[phylly]

CONGRATULATIONS on your surgery. Take care and have an uneventful recovery.
Phylly

[Lisibug]

It's great that you're doing so well. I had a 3 level cervical ADR, too. I didn't have any improvement in my radicular pain initially, but over the following several months, it slowly abated - so don't be too worried about that. You'll have the trapezii/upper back muscular pain for probably 2-3 months - it was 3 months nearly exactly for me. My doc had me wear a soft collar for 2 weeks, then intermittently for another two weeks (I didn't wear it during the day then, just at night) and then not at all at 4 weeks. This was my doc's instructions - your doc may have different advice for you, but this might give you some idea of what he might say. Try and take it easy and let yourself heal!

[MR D]

It's now been 18 days since my surgery.

In less than a week I've been able to cut my meds quite a bit. I'm feeling better each day. I'm able to sleep laying flat and on my side and sleeping better than I have in 10 years. This has been the biggest thing ever!!! I'm even having dreams and staying a sleep for hours at a time. I'm not waking up because of pain.

I have almost no incision pain, just a little pain around my collar bone and in my left shoulder. In the last week I've only had 2 medium headaches, instead of my daily headaches. And I was able to take some meds and the headaches went away. Before they never went away with meds. I have no more pain or tingling in my fingers or arms. I'm amazed and happy that so much pain is disappearing daily!!!

I'm still wearing the hard collar and taking it easy.

I went to my first follow-up appointment yesterday. The doctor was pleased to hear how well I'm doing and very happy with my progress. He took new x-rays and everything looks great, straight and perfect. It was fascinating to finally see the placement of the ADR's for the first time. He wants me to keep wearing the hard collar for 4 more weeks. I can take it off for brief periods while I'm sitting and relaxing. I go back in 4 weeks for more x-rays and hopefully I'll start physical therapy then and change to a soft collar.

I also want to thank everyone for all your advise, comments and support. It's really helped me get through this. I'll keep you posted of any changes and improvements.

Mr. D

[Lisibug]

I wanted to look you up after receiving your PM. It's so great to hear how well you're doing. You've had a good doc, too. Many congratulations. Isn't it wonderful that we can have these surgeries and start to get our lives back?

[MR D]

It's now been 6 weeks since my surgery. I go to my doctor in 2 days for another follow-up.

I've been doing great so far until just over week ago. I went to visit a couple of different physical therapists to talk to them and find the one I liked that also had experience with ADR's. By getting into my mom's SUV without making sure the front seat was far enough back to allow room to get in, I might of injured or aggravated my lower back. Two days after this, I was in extreme pain, I couldn't get out of bed or lift my left leg without causing extreme pain in my lower back, butt, groin and leg. (I think that this new problem could of also been caused by other adjustments I've had to make because of wearing the hard color. ie: I've had to use the momentum of swinging my leg over my body to get out of bed or roll over and other things like that. We have a temper-pedic bed, which we love, but it's hard to roll over in all the time. In hindsight, I think it could of really helped to have some kind of bar above my bed so I could of lift my self up with my arms.)

I didn't think it was going to get so bad, but it gradually got worse and 5 days after the incident in the car, I was in extreme pain, 11 out of 1-10. I couldn't lift my left leg at all or walk or stand. I considered going to the emergency room, but figured there was nothing they could really do besides more meds. Only if I was laying down and relaxing my hip and leg did the pain go down to a 1 or 2. By Friday, a week later I realized that I wasn't going to get better so I tried to call my doctor to let him know what was going on. Monday I reached the doctor and they called in a prescription for steriods after I told them that my Lydocaine patch didn't help at all, and the extra meds I was taking didn't help either. They also started the approval process for an MRI and miraculously my insurance company approved it in less than 2 hours. Today, Tuesday I got the MRI done. Tomorrow I pick up the MRI and the results and Thursday I go back the doctor for my follow-up as well as to review my new problem.

Hopefully it's nothing bad, but I had many accidents that injured my lower back 20 years ago that took 10 years to recover from. Back then they didn't offer me a MRI's so I never found out what damage I did do.

Because of all this new pain, and the tenseness it's caused, I've had more pain throughout my neck & shoulders and new pain in my left arm, which I haven't had since surgery.

I'll let you all know more after my doctor appointment.

Thank you all again for your comments and support!!! It's much appreciated!

Mr. D