Having neck surgery monday
 

Yup..... it is finally happening.

Back ground - jack@ss careless driver in SUV hit me and caused 3 herniated/ torn disc's.

So, I go in monday morning at 6 AM to saint joe's in paterson.... surgery is scheduled for 7:30. I'm the first patient of the day. I will probably stay at least 1 night.... hopefully not more than that.

They plan on going through the front of my neck. They will remove the old metal plate n 4 screws (from a previous careless driver). Then they will remove all the damaged disc's. They replace the damaged disc's with cedaver bones. Then they install a much larger metal plate to stretch from my C4 to C7 vertabrea. I'll have a total of 8 screws put in. They will also investigate the possibility of doing the C3 to C4 vertabrae but that depends on what they find/ can do when they are in there...... so the metal plate could be even longer like C3 to C7....and maybe a couple more screws.

Surgery is 2-2.5 hours

I should wake up in a hard neck immobilizer/ cast. I'll wear that for a couple weeks. Then I progress to a soft collar for a couple weeks.

Recovery time for me to just get back to "normal" life (get back to my job) is 3-4 months. It takes up to 1 year for the spinal fusion to fuse completely.... so I got a long road ahead of me.

I will loose between 40 and 50% of my ability to look left, right, up down etc.



I have explored countless other options and had several second opinions. All previous treatments were unsuccessful so that is why we are at where we are. Trust me.... this is not what I want...... but it is what I need to regain my life back. I am in pain every single minute of the day.... even with being on oxycodone, vicoden, muscle relaxers, nerve inhibitors etc.

So....... yay?

oh wow, i hope things work out for ya man ! have a safe recovery !

hope all goes well and for a fast recovery

My co-worker had the same neck surgery last year. They used an artificial disc instead of a cadaver one. It took him a couple weeks to get his full voice back cuz they had to move his esophogus n **** out of the way to get to the disc in the neck. Hope all goes well. The surgeon told him he was going to lose alot of motion in his neck. But a year later, he's got full function back so maybe you will have the same luck. Feel better.

Good luck, I hope it turns out well for you like it did for Noah's friend!

best of luck james

Good luck man.

hope all goes well and for a fast recovery

I hope this one works for you man. I've never met you or anything but just hearing all the BS you've gone through makes me feel bad...hopefully this is the last surgery for you.

Good luck James! I also hope this is it for you and your luck will change soon. It's a good thing you have a great wifey to take care of you! :)

good luck man, we'll all be praying for ya, and if you guys ever need anything, you know just just need to ask and njfboa will provide lol

Good luck with the surgery, hope you have a quick recovery

OUCH:rofl:, just reading about this gives me the willies! LOL for a safe recovery.

Damn James, good luck, hoping for a quick and full recovery!

good luck dude!

If the donor parts come from a lady does that make you a he-she?

good luck man

Sucks that it came to this James, here's hoping everything goes well!

- Justin

:rofl:

Hmmmmm..... I gotta ask the doctor that one.... :rofl:

Thank you everyone!

It's a good thing I'm not racing the firebird anymore.... cause all this metal in my neck is horrible for weight reduction!

Forget the cadaver parts. Have some made from carbon fiber to offset the weight of the plates & screws :)

- Justin

good luck, hope it all works out alright

Hopefully they also include some sort of body-air bags for you in the future. Just get you a suit, where upon impending impact, your suit turns into a giant bubble.

quick and fast recovery love!

Kool item, but everytime you moved about 6 dozen of those bubbles would pop and drive you nuts. Plus all your friends would want to pop some too. What if you really had to fart, it would sound like a BOMB EXPLODED! :shock: