Just Had Artificial Cervical Disc Replacement!

Well, I put this surgery off for a whole year but now I'm SO GLAD that I finally got it over with!

I am two days post-op for a total diskectomy and artificial cervical disc replacement at the C6-C7 level.

I feel very lucky to have found a really good surgeon (he was my 4th surgical opinion, not counting a neurology consult!) and the pain is not as bad as I expected.

I had surgery on Thursday afternoon and went home on Friday morning with my husband.

I can swallow with some soreness and I am not really very hoarse at all. Just a bad headache and neck pain, shoulder blade pain. I have some burning pain in the middle of my back. My surgeon says it is because they have to restore the height of the discs back to normal before they insert the plates and the stretching of the muscles causes the back pain postoperatively.

I have been wearing a hard cervical collar and sleeping in a sitting up position because that is the only way that is comfortable. I basically just sit around watching television all day because I am taking some strong painkillers. Luckily for me, my husband is doing all the house work and cooking.

I really wanted to publish this on my blog because I could not find much about people's personal postoperative experiences and the artificial cervical disc replacements are still really new. I will be going for my first post-op doctor;s visit in 10 days and I will continue to post my progress for anyone who may be contemplating this kind of surgery.