Trudy
I understand your fears and concerns about this upcoming surgery as I was in a similar situation last year. My injuries began with a car accident that I was involved in on December 12, 1998. That accident caused many problems and I have had to have two different surgeries for two different areas of pain. I was having severe pain, numbness and tingling down my right arm as well as pain that was coming from my neck, going down my right arm. Whenever my doctor would examine me and press on a nerve in my neck, it would send pain straight down my arm. I had three physicians involved, an orthopedic surgeon, neurosurgeon and my PCP. They could not determine where the pain was coming from, so they decideded to do the shoulder surgery first. They initially thought I had a tear in my rotator cuff but that was not the case. My orthopaedic surgeon ended up doing a right shoulder decompression in July of 1999 (he did a procedure that removed my shoulder bone from the joint, trimmed down the bone & then replaced it into the joint). My neurosurgeon stated my shoulder was sorta of shoved into the socket. I must admit it did relieve most of the terrible pain I was having in my right shoulder and arm, however; it did not relieve the neck pain. Other studies were performed including a MRI, CAT scan, an EMG as well as a Myelogram. These studies helped to reveal that I had a herniated disc in my neck as well as bone spurs which were pinching a nerve. My neurosurgeon did a cervical diskectomy in September of 2000. When you have a diskectomy they are removing either bone or bone fragments and you generally have to replace the bone being removed. I had the option to use donor bone or use bone from my hip. I decided to use my own hip bone after careful consideration of the pros and cons of using a donor bone. I would suggest that you talk this over with your physician, in dept, before making your decision. You can also find information to compare the use of donor bone verses using your own bone. I am sure your physican has told you, if you decide to use your own bone, your recovery time is a little extended. You now have two areas to heal and believe it or not, your hip will hurt more than your neck. (Honest to Pete.) I wouldn't of believed it, but since I lived thru it, it's true... It has been 9 months since my cervical diskectomy and I have to say I am doing much better. I hardly have a noticable scar. I give my thanks to my neurosurgeon and orthopaedic surgeron for their care and treatment. Finding a physician who will take the time to talk to you and explain everything in detail is very important. Take advantage of looking up all you can about how a diskectomy is performed and what care you will need to do after the surgery to allow you to heal properly. I wish you the best. Trudy