Laura P
congratulations on the surgery date... will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. you should do fine. i can tell you that following both surgeries I awoke in the recovery room and the neverending pain was not there. and it was not due to pain meds, but could actually feel the relief of the impingement being corrected. first surgery was on a thursday and was released on sunday. second surgery was on tuesday, with admission on monday and discharge on friday. the second stay was longer because of medical concerns for other conditions and medications being taken. mid way between the 2 surgeries (12 years apart) started getting blood clots (in no way related to the neck problems) and they travelled to my lungs... so on blood thinners forever. So they admitted me the night before and was put on iv anticoagulants that were stopped a few hours before surgery. then following surgery, had to get them restarted without complications with the surgery. my neurosurgeon admitted to me much later that he had been concerned about the risks of the surgery with the clot problem, but that because of the proper medical management he said I was one of the easiest cases he had performed. Glad that you like the doc and have confidence in him. that is more than half the battle of success. i trust my surgeon completely and he has always been "brutally" honest in his communication with me. he tells me what the situation is and lets me be a party in the solution. and he tells me when he can't help... he does not let his ego control his performance... he knows he can't fix EVERYTHING and readily admits it and looks for solutions to assist me in coping with ongoing problems. good luck and please keep us posted. also feel free to ask anything regarding pre-op, in-patient, and post-op experiences, i will tell you what my personal experience has been and what other friends with similar problems have experienced. take good care of yourself, and follow those docs orders, especially following in the recovery phase. the collar then will be very important to make sure that everything heals in the right places. i know that the collars are a drag, but constant pain is worse... again good luck and know that all will be fine.