ok, things were going well with my neck problems - until last Saturday (the 9th) afternoon. I don't know exactly what happned (but I have an idea, and don't want to cast blame) but I ended up in terrible pain. I somehow managed to sleep through the night but Sunday morning, "terrible" had gone to excruciating. My right arm, from neck to elbow was absolutely killing me. I couldn't find a position, standing, sitting, lying, anything, that would relieve even a smidgen of the horror.
I was crying like a little girl.
And humping ariound like Quasimodo.
And my wife took me to the emergency room.
I got an infusion with pain medication right away, x-rayed, checked-in (pay 40 Euro a day for a private room). The paind killer only took the edge off and I kept demanding more and stronger stuff... ended up with morphine injections in the stomach, and even that only dulled the pain. I basically suffered through Monday and Tuesday, and early Wednesday morning was wheeled into the operating room. The one thought that kept me from jumping out the window was dark bliss full-anesthetic that I knew was coming.
After the OP, all the pain in my arm was gone. A little residual ouchiness along the nerve and some numbness in my fingertips, but I was basically new-born. Yay
The OP is very straightforward, and has an excellent track record of success. They went into my neck from the front (moved the esophagus and other tube-y squishy things in the to the side), pried the vertebrae (C6/C7) apart, took out the ruptured disk, cleaned up the bone surfaces with dentistry utensils, and inserted a heavy-duty, toothed, U-shaped, spring-titanium implant between the vertebrae (I'd asked for adamantium but apparently that stuff isn't real, so I got the titanium model). It stays in place through the sheer force of the ligaments in the neck (plus the teeth), no screws, no adjustments, no movable parts to wear or break. After 4-6 weeks, bone should grow over it and it'll be a permanaent part of my body, forever. Better than new. That's the plan, anyway.
I'm about half an inch taller than I was before. Healing up great, feel really good, am being very active and only have a little residual neck/shoulder stiffness to remind me of what I went through.
I have to be careful to avoid extreme movements with my head, but only for a few weeks. Once the bone grows over the implant, I'll have 100% mobility again - better than I have for a few years, I think.
I'll post before/after pics here. The before pic is a C/T that was taken lying on my back. The after pic is an x-ray taking standing.
ok, well, there's a problem with the image upload, will have to get to it later... (ok, figured it out - got booted from the hospital wifi, maybe after 5 minutes of inactivity or something you have to re-login?)
edit: Just had a visit from a Doc - going home tomorrow!
I was crying like a little girl.
And humping ariound like Quasimodo.
And my wife took me to the emergency room.
I got an infusion with pain medication right away, x-rayed, checked-in (pay 40 Euro a day for a private room). The paind killer only took the edge off and I kept demanding more and stronger stuff... ended up with morphine injections in the stomach, and even that only dulled the pain. I basically suffered through Monday and Tuesday, and early Wednesday morning was wheeled into the operating room. The one thought that kept me from jumping out the window was dark bliss full-anesthetic that I knew was coming.
After the OP, all the pain in my arm was gone. A little residual ouchiness along the nerve and some numbness in my fingertips, but I was basically new-born. Yay
The OP is very straightforward, and has an excellent track record of success. They went into my neck from the front (moved the esophagus and other tube-y squishy things in the to the side), pried the vertebrae (C6/C7) apart, took out the ruptured disk, cleaned up the bone surfaces with dentistry utensils, and inserted a heavy-duty, toothed, U-shaped, spring-titanium implant between the vertebrae (I'd asked for adamantium but apparently that stuff isn't real, so I got the titanium model). It stays in place through the sheer force of the ligaments in the neck (plus the teeth), no screws, no adjustments, no movable parts to wear or break. After 4-6 weeks, bone should grow over it and it'll be a permanaent part of my body, forever. Better than new. That's the plan, anyway.
I'm about half an inch taller than I was before. Healing up great, feel really good, am being very active and only have a little residual neck/shoulder stiffness to remind me of what I went through.
I have to be careful to avoid extreme movements with my head, but only for a few weeks. Once the bone grows over the implant, I'll have 100% mobility again - better than I have for a few years, I think.
I'll post before/after pics here. The before pic is a C/T that was taken lying on my back. The after pic is an x-ray taking standing.
ok, well, there's a problem with the image upload, will have to get to it later... (ok, figured it out - got booted from the hospital wifi, maybe after 5 minutes of inactivity or something you have to re-login?)
edit: Just had a visit from a Doc - going home tomorrow!
