Newbie to the site: ACDF 2012 & 2013

Good morning Shelley & welcome to the forum. You have had a lot of work done on your neck without a doubt. I am guessing that the discs above & below your fusions were somewhat compromised before the surgeries, but not bad enough to warrant surgery at the time. It can really put the patient in a catch 22 situation. Sometimes they ended up with another surgery or they don't. You were not given much of a time window by the neurologist. Generally, I see a lot of folks being told somewhere around the 10 year mark, they made need to do something else.

Oh, I think those of us that had to stop working would give anything to rewind that clock & go back to what we once were. I remember taking a week vacation & saying, oh if I could just take one more week. But, when you are dealing with chronic health issues daily & being home all the time puts a completely different spin on things, It is not like being home & jumping up & doing anything you want to do, lol. All we can do is stay as busy as we can within our limits.

I don't know, but if this were me personally, I would look for myself a consult only with a board certified, fellowship trained neurosurgeon. Boy, that is a mouthful. Sometimes having a new set of eyes take a good look at the overall situation can be beneficial. Any time surgery is a potential we always want the very best we can find. My son was referred to one a few years back & we was most impressed. There is a really good chance he is going to need surgery at some point & this will be the dr he uses. I have seen surgeries by some of the top neurosurgeons in my area & hands down this guy would be the one to use.

The forum is not as busy as it once was. I like to think that members got better & are living their lives on a better level than they were earlier. It seems like the folks needing spine surgery sort of comes in waves. We may get several needing neck surgery & then we get a few needing back surgery. Some of our long term members do check the forum & offer support to others.

Please keep us posted on how you are doing. Take care.

Thank you both very much for the respones and support! I actually did find a really great surgeon and neurologist recently. The place I was going to was awful!!! The Dr told me that the pain was all in my head and basically made a joke out of what I was telling him. When I found the new team they have been so fully supportive!! I've gotten some injections with sedation at this place. The other place did two without sedation and it was horrible and painful. The new place does all their procedures under sedation as a choice of course. Now I barely remember anything.

I've gotten my nerves burned on the left and the right and that has helped alot!! It took the deep nerve pain away. But now with the new issues in so frustrated because I think this is going to be a life time struggle for me. I'm not sure what they can do about a protruding bone c4 into the spinal cord. Maybe just monitor. Idk. Anyway its nice to be here. I'll be sticking around for awhile.

Hi Shelley Welcome to HealingWell Chronic Pain Forum! I can definitely empathize with you and everything your going through! It's just not the brackets and hardware that puts stress on the other discs above and below a fusion, its the fusion its self, as the vertebra are fused together and that flexion joint is gone and the discs above and below that fusion take more stress! My first ACDF was at C6/7 and much like yours at C4/5 Mine was severely pressing into my spinal cord and and disc fragments broke off and were lodged in the spinal canal, they couldn't understand why I wasn't a quadrieplegic! Anyway with that fusion at that time they didn't use any brackets or screws or donor cadaver bone for the graft. They took the graft bone from my pelvis and I had to wear a cervical collar for 4 or 5 months and had to be extremely careful and couldn't work for over 6 weeks afterwards. Anyway according to my surgeon I was extremely lucky as it was 25 years later that the disc above that fusion went bad and I had to have another ACDF at C5/6. That time they used cadaver donor bone and brackets and screws and it was a much faster recovery!

Herniated Thoracic discs ended my nursing career and put me on disability! So I understand what your going through. After those Anterior Disc Fusions I've also a posterior fusion with rods and pins at C3/4 and Foraminotomy at L2 through L5. The the herniated Thoracic disc they wouldn't touch so put me on disability and pain management.

The folks on this site really helped me get through some very difficult times, several back/neck surgeries and even a total right knee replacement!There are some really caring and compassionate folks on this forum! So Welcome aboard!

Anything we do to help you through this difficult time, just let us know!

I wish you well!

White Beard

Hi Shelley, I was on OxyContin 40mg every 8 hours for many years, but when I moved it was difficult if not impossible to continue with my pain current management, (in the state I currently live in it is near impossible to find doctors that would prescribe the pain meds I was on) so I was making a 300 mile trip ( one way) every month back to my original pain management doctor I Illinois. During the winter is was often extremely difficult to make that trip, especially if the weather was really bad. So after talking with my pain management doctor about other possible options, he referred me to the University of Indiana Pain Clinic in Indianapolis for a consult to get a implanted pain pump. I got it implanted in June of 2014, and it has worked very well for me! It only covers a limited area, mine is in the lower back and it gives me very good relief and control over my lower back and sciatica pain, (which is my most bothersome and debilitating pain) but does nothing for pain caused by my thoracic or cervical spine. Anyway I go up to Indy and get my pump refilled and reprogrammed every six months. So far this has been a real Godsend for me, and I am completely off all oral pain meds. I do take Baclofen 30mg every 8 hours to control muscle spasms and that also helps control my pain!

As for what I do with my time, well I learned the hard way, what one shouldn't do, It's very easy when your in pain and can't work, or go out and do the stuff you used to do, to isolate ones self! That's a big huge mistake! Admittedly allot of people (family and friends, and maybe even spouses)often cannot relate to your pain! At least wise, unless your constantly wincing or crying all the time or other wise, outwardly showing you pain! I can't begin to tell you the number of times I've heard this said: ( ""you look fine to me! or You don't look or act like you're in pain!"") Well what does pain look like? Anyway family and friends that don't understand often go by the way side, and one becomes even more isolated! My advice is keep your friends and family close, and force yourself to do stuff and participate in doing activities with family and friends even when your not really up to it! Try not to let your pain define you! It took me a long time to realize that! Allot of people on this forum, ( past and present) helped me get through some very trying times during this change in my life!. Just realizing I wasn't alone and as bad as things might be or seem for me, there is always someone who has it allot worse! And that puts things into perspective! Shelley I worked on an Oncology Unit and when I look back and remember what allot of my patients went through and how bad they had it,......well...... my situation is nothing compared to most of theirs!

Anyway the things I do, well I have a couple of raised garden plots, and I tend my garden, and I am getting back into doing some drawing and wood sculpture. Through my church I help make deserts and help serve at my local open Hands Pantry, serving supper once a month. And I have a dog that keeps me busy too! Ha. Allot of times I over do it, and yes I "" pay the piper!"" when I do! But although my life has changed and I still dearly miss doing Nursing, I persevere and continue living my life the best I can!

I've been on this forum for quite a while now, and allot of my posts explains things that I have found helpful in relieving my pain over the years. And I have found just helping others on this forums, helps me too! I do wish you all the best!

White Beard

Thanks both of you! I think I'm having a bit of cabin fever and wishing the warm weather was here. I also have a raised garden bed and another 4x16ft bed for veggies in the growing season. I love love love gardening!! You both are absolutely right! I have to get out more and join in. I have been isolating myself. Its so difficult to have fun or do much when I'm hurting tho. I do get out with my husband once in awhile but mostly in at home doing DIY stuff. I mix vape juice and make pain balm. I like to paint but I haven't been able to since my fall.
I guess I have to figure out what I really want out of life. Its just not what I was thinking. Thank you both!!
I know from nursing too that alot of other ppl have it so much worse than me!! I have to think about that stuff.