I've taken the next step and have asked for a surgery date. The kicker for me was on going to see Dr. Delamarter with a client. Flexion/extension xrays of my client's c-spine showed that all of the levels involved in the DDD were moving as a unit... basically looking like a long fusion and clearly overloading adjacent levels. Along with the still elevated neuro symptoms... it all ties into the "what am I waiting for... better chance of success earlier rather than later... this won't get better on it's own..."
If the surgery is a success, I'll be kicking myself for not doing it years ago.
If the surgery is not a success, I'll be kicking myself for doing it while I can still function so well.
Results will probably be somewhere in the middle???
Based on what I've seen with clients' cervical surgeries in situations like mine, I'm much less afraid of the surgery than I would be for big multi-level lumbar. While I need 3 levels, I consider it a 4-level surgery because it spans 4 levels. We did not test the healthy looking disc in the middle... now I wish we had... I don't know if I'll repeat discography... certainly not at bad levels... they are proven and now obvious... but that seemingly good level in the middle.... better to have 4 done, than leave one in the middle??? I don't know. My guess is that Bertagnoli will want to leave it alone.
Maybe December???
I'll keep y'all posted.
Mark
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