vince
hi...ill start by telling you that i spent 8 yrs in the army. did everything you could imagine and things you cant and being scared was something i just didnt do. ive always been active and invincible...that is until my left hand started to tingle then itch then burn and then my left leg started to go numb and my face would numb at the left cheek. after all kinds of tests i was sent to a neurosurgeon named sartoris with indianapolis neurosurgeons. he had an mri done and told me it wasnt a matter of if i had surgery but when. the sooner the better. it seems a disc decided to bulge in towards my spinal cord and was just having a grand old time poking around and causing me trouble. i had gotten to where i was having trouble walking and dropping stuff alot. the thought of having them go through the front of my neck and removing the bad vertibra and disc and then putting 3 inch pc of bone in and fuseing it all then using a plate and some screws to hold it all together scared me quite a bit. i told myself...i have a 13 year old son and a wife i love dearly and i've got so much more i want to do. this sounds like where you are at. here is what i did. 1st..i made sure that dr sartoris was the best and he is. then i took the time to tell my wife and son how much i love them and spent the week before the surgery with them. i made peace with my god and then went to the hospital. all my worry was for nothing...it brought me closer to god. and showed me how much i have and made me that much more determined to do everything i wanted to do but hadnt gotten around to doing. the operation took 5 hours due to some rather stubborn muscles in my neck but an hour after the surgery i was talking with my wife and the doc was tickling my foot. i had 100% of my leg back and my arm is almost 100%. there is still a tingle and slight burning feel but not like it was before. not a painful burn but kind of a back ground sort of pain. nothing like what i had...the recovery was slow...i got a very comfortable lazy boy and that was my home for most of the 1st month. do get the comfy lazy boy. you wont be able to lay flat and sleep for awhile. it actually became a very comfy place to sleep and i do find myself missing it from time to time. do everything the doc tells you to do. be very carful that when u put the collar on that you put it on correctly. i spent a day with it on wrong after a bath and couldnt figure out why i had started to hurt so much. next day when i swapped to my bath collar my wife noticed we had it on backwards. trust me...dont do that. as for pain meds. i took vicodin and it always did the job. i really made an effort to take as little as possable but dont let the pain sneak up on you. if you get to where its hurting take the pain meds. i was up and down stairs after the 1st week with help and was walkin slow but on my own after 3rd week. few weeks later and i was walking normal. the collar was the worst of it all. not being able to turn your head can get to be a pain. youll want to take it off sooo bad...dont!!! where it as long as the doc says to. im betting you are going to be fine. i hope you didnt get as far gone as i was before you were diagnosed. youll be in my prayers tonight. youll be ok soon. just be sure your doctor is a good one. if youre near indiana then check with a dr. sartoris. if not call him and maybe he could recommend a dr in your area. all our prayers go out to you. please take care and email me if you wish with any questions that you may have. sorry im a bit long winded but thats me...gabby. take care..god bless. vince