Originally Posted by
Shreck
C5-C6 from the dentist chair.
This is scary reading, I hope to not go through any type of surgery, I went through two month of extreme pain on 3 pain meds that only numbed my brain. I am still dealing with pain but found massage helped a lot. Dealing with spiking pain and weakness in my left arm.
I really want to get back to running and cycling, it so depressing. How do you guys mange just sitting around waiting and holding your head steady to avoid the pain.
I have had 4 spinal surgeries with the last one, C5/C6, in 2007. The first three were all at L5/S1. I can tell you that the first 2 surgeries were done after being laid up for 3 to 4 months of excruciating pain, physical therapy that did not help me and mental anguish that I hope to never have to go through again. By the time I got to the point where the insurance companies would sign off on the doctors opinions, I was highly motivated to get surgery done despite being laid up for another 6 weeks before I could even start physical therapy, go through another 3 to 6 months of PT, and then finally getting the OK to slowly go back to normal activities, including return to work with light duty limitations. My 3rd surgery was a total disc replacement at L5/S1, mechanical disc that was still considered experimental. I was involved in a medical study to see how people did with the replacement compared to spinal fusion. I, fortunately, did, and still am doing, very well with the replacement. A lot of people did not recover well at all and I believe that procedure is no longer done for the lumbar area. I also have had my right shoulder repaired due to 3 tears. I have been laid up a total of close to 2 1/2 years with the 5 surgeries. I am 66 years old and I am physically in pretty good shape. Each of the past 3 years I have put 4,000 to 6,000 miles on my bicycles. I still work, transitioned to being school bus driver, no longer on any pain meds and I live with just my dog and cat. I have a pretty good life, and I believe that would not be true if not for having the surgeries. My biggest piece of advice would be to do what the doctors and the physical therapists want you to do post op.