Barbara Strauss
I have a protruding disk at C5-c6 which doesn't protrude enough, they say, to impinge on anything. I have seen 17 doctors and it is a nightmare. However, you have the hardest part behind you, my way of thinking, at least you have doctors who KNOW what is wrong. Now, I have a girlfriend, coincidentally that had a bi-level disk surgery of the same you mentioned, C5-C6-C7. Her two disks had collapsed totally, again, due to doctors not caring. But she did find a really good neurosurgeon who went in, removed what was left of the collapsed disks and put a plate there. I THINK it was titanium, but don't know for sure. I DO know that she had bone put between the vertebrae where the disks had been. It was cadaver bone. I and her are in Phoenix, and bless her heart, she had to wear this terrible hard plastic collar all summer with the temps at 110 degrees. Fortunately, she has a 17 year old daughter that drives and could run errands for her. BUT, she is totally fixed now. She has one place in her left arm that still has a bit of numbness, but they tell her that the nerves will regenerate in time. The only pain meds she has to take now are just aspirin for a headache and the like. She was glad of that as she had been on morphine, and I have been on morphine now for over 6 months and still no doctor has even offered anything other than MRIs and blood tests. Blood tests all came back fine and MRI does not show impingement, so no one will do anything except give me narcotics which I HATE. They make me feel crummy all over and tired, it exhausts me to go to the store. Sorry to mention my woes, but in a way, I would trade you positions. I would rather have it at least KNOWN what is wrong and then find myself the best surgeon I could to fix it. My friend also had her surgery done from the front of her neck. The only thing she complained of right after surgery was that her esophagus hurt, but that was because it had to be pushed to the side during the surgery, and was probably just a bit sore. It did go away by the next day. Hope you make the decision and get well. This can only get worse the way you describe it. YOu might get lucky and try the over-the-door traction to try to suck the disks back in, but they might just come out again at a later date and you don't want to be messing with this every 6 months, so if I were comfortable with my surgeon, I would rather see a neurosurgeon do the work, I would go ahead with it. Good luck.