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Sorry everyone. The problem is that I have way too much to post and always expect to get to it in a few hours. Here is the VERY short version and I'll try to fill in all the details later.

First, my stellar recover continued after I got home. Yesterday I was 3 weeks post-op. Tomorrow, I will have been home for 2 weeks. Arriving home on a Thursday night after a 24 hour travel ordeal, I was still remarkably great. Friday, I was able to go into work for a few hours and felt wonderful. Saturday, I went into work for a few hours and felt wonderful. Sunday, I went into work for a few hours and felt wonderful. We had a party Sunday night and I felt good enough to GENTLY sweep the patio and clean up a bit. Sunday night, I started to feel it. Monday I spent a full day at work and by Monday night I was really hurting. Please keep in mind that none of these activities are likely to cause a problem with the discs and that while I was doing them they felt perfectly OK. (I expose my stupidity here in the hopes that others will learn!)

The major symptom that came on is the very sharp pain when moving wrong. (Like just after surgery when you can't roll over or transition sitting <--> laying without generating that momentary 9 or 10) The pain is on the right side of my upper back and sometimes in the R chest. It can also occur at times from inhaling or exhaling deeply.

I forgot to mention that before my surgery, I only took 2-3 Vicodin/day. After my surgery, I settled into 10mg Oxycontin/day (= 9 Vicodin). On Saturday, too, the oxy in the morning then transitioned back to Vicodin, thinking I'd be able to manage on 4-5/day. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday, I was ramping up the Vicodin; then on Wednesday I went back to the Oxy. I took 40mg/day for a couple of days then settled back into 30, where I am now.

I was not worried about the prostheses moving, but after it went on for several days, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and got some xrays to make sure. All is OK. (The clusterf*%K with the local doctor and xray tech not knowing what to do and being very uncomfortable taking direction from me was comical, but when all was said and done, they went the extra mile and got everything properly done and were very kind.)

Dr. F-M suggested that my pain on breathing may be a 'blockade'? I believe that she was referring to something like a frozen facet and was suggesting a chiropractor, making sure to note that NO VIOLENT ADJUSTEMENT is appropriate here, just mild coaxing. I have a tough time going to a chiropractor, but may consider it today.

I'm still going into work for a few hours/day. When kicking around the house, I have a tough time getting comfortable and think that mixing it up is good. I'm not worried about long term implications but am not happy that at 3 weeks plus a day, I'm not nearly as good as I was at 10, 11, 12 days.

Here is a brief inventory of symptoms.

Voice - I had trouble with my voice after surgery. I could always talk, but in the days following the surgery, I had to move so much air to speak in a muffled, raspy voice that i frequently had to take breaths at seemingly inappropriate times.) I was still raspy 100% of the time at a week post-op. After a week or so, my normal voice would show up at random times for just a few seconds. After about 10 days, my voice was normal 80% and raspy 20. By 14 days and still now, my voice is pretty normal. There is a very slight raspy component, but nobody would notice. I still can tell once in a while that I’m moving more air than normal, but it’s getting better and better… I expect a 100% recovery. Note that the 6 hour surgery with larynx retracted is no small ordeal. I’ve seen this voice issue before and am not concerned.

Tinitis – I knew this was a long shot and was not likely connected to my c-spine. I still have it as expected.

L face and neck tingling – This annoying symptom was attributed to C3-4 and confirmed with discography. It is 90% gone now. Immediately after surgery, I’d say it was about 25% improved. It was hard not to attribute my perception of the improvement to wishful thinking. But as the days wore on, it improved substantially. Now, I notice it once in a while, but it’s mostly gone.

L interscapular pain – This pain started with my MVA in 1997. While I did not have it all the time, it recent years, I had it most of the time. It’s gone.

L chest and upper arm pain. While this occurred only a few times in recent years, since the onset of more severe symptoms a few months ago, it had been constant. It’s gone.

Balance – I no longer have to sneak up on my underwear to put a leg in. I can stand (mostly) steady on either foot, still R > L, but a thousand times better than pre-op. Eyes closed, R good, L OK (not as good as R, but this was impossible pre-op)

New radicular symptoms – after the surgery I had new numbness in L 2nd, 3rd, 4th fingertips. This was minor at worst and has improved to where it’s hardly noticeable. It’s still here, but just barely.

L little finger pain, tingling, numbness. 90% gone since surgery.

L back of thumb tingling and electric shocks with certain movements. This was unchanged immediately after the surgery. I think it’s a local problem and unrelated to my neck, but now at 3 weeks, it’s substantially better. It could still be a local problem that is better because I’m spending less time at keyboard… that is likely the case.

Hip and thigh pain – this is the biggie. I believe that the thing that has been worst through the last 3 years has been a non-specific pain in my hips and thighs that would get worse through the afternoons and sometimes be severe in the evenings and at night. It would cause me to sit there and move my legs like restless leg syndrome. I could not tell you where it hurt… the pain was so diffuse I could not describe it beyond general hip and upper legs. It’s gone.

Scar – I was hoping that I’d have a big ugly scar that would be a conversation piece and would generate a lot of business for me. Unfortunately, Bertagnoli stitched it up so nicely, I think it will be pretty invisible.

Alignment issue – On the first xray, the tilt at C3 could be attributed to the way I held my head for the xray. On the second one, I knew that there was likely some structural issue. With the third set of post-op xrays, I already knew that I have an alignment issue. There is a tilt in the system. If you look at me from straight on, and you have a calibrated eye, and you are anal about such things; you will notice that my head is slightly off-center to my right. It is tilted back to the left so my head is straight. My neck is slightly tilted. Everything looks fine with the implantation. I have not analyzed pre-op xrays to see if this existed before (not that it matters.) If this stays where it is and is asymptomatic… no problem. If the tilt gets worse, I may have an issue in the future. Only time will tell. There is no reason to worry, and no point as well. It is what it is… not a problem now and no reason to anticipate a problem… just an anomaly that I’ll be watching.

I’ll post some pictures later. In summary, the good news is that after I returned, I didn’t post because I was too busy. The bad news is that after the setback, I didn’t post because I was still too busy, and unable to spend the extra time at the computer. I should have been posting quick updates… but the surgery has not solved my posting problem… short posts are still not possible!

Again, I apologize to those who are worried about me. I’m OK, and getting better every day. My early success let me forget that this was a huge surgery… 4 levels with a 6-level approach, plus a lot of severe degeneration that made many aspects of the surgery extra difficult. If anyone local has a 2 x 4, you should come by the office and smack me in the head if I don’t go home early!

All the best,

Mark

PS… if anyone local wants to host a gathering, or if we can find some centrally located spot for a lunch on Saturday or Sunday… let’s do it.