[treefrog]

Glad to see you started a surgery thread. I look forward to reading about your recovery and hope it goes well.

Something you wrote about your symptoms, resonates with me.

For several years I have been having slight tingling on the pinky side of my right hand. It actually starts at my elbow. When I went to an orthopaedic doc (when it first started), he said it was a nerve in my elbow that he thought was compressed. He gave me a course of steroids and a brace-type thing to wear at night to keep from bending my elbow (which I wore for a couple of months). He also told me to stop leaning my arm on armrests in my car or in chairs. But I think the hardest part for me, to keep this sort of action from happening, is using the mouse at my computer since that is the hand I use. So, the weakness I had went away, and the numbness got better, but has never totally gone. The doc also told me that if it got to the point of bothering me too much or getting worse, surgery to release (move) the nerve was the next course of action (that was 4-5 years ago).

But, now I am starting to wonder if any cervical discs are actually to blame. Like you, my lumbar pain came on not caused by any trauma or incident, but plain old degenerative disc disease changes. So, it wouldn't surprise me if other discs were also degenerating, though I've never had the cervical area investigated.