I am told I cannot drive for at least two months but I can start working from home about two weeks after surgery. I'll be in a hard collar 24/7 for the first month and a soft collar for another month.

The incision is remarkable small and will be located at the front of my neck and off to one side which is probably why I am scheduled to only spend one night in the hospital.

Jodi-

I'm no help, either, Jodi, but just want to wish you the best of luck and a speedy, speedy recovery!

Gravey will wear a C-collar in your honor on the day of your surgery. ;)

I've never heard of this but wanted to send my prayers, good thoughts, best wishes...whatever you need Jodi...Please keep us posted!!

Follow your doctors orders and try not to over do to quickly!

I've no similar experience to share. Of course you are nervous! But...your surgeon won't be. This is all in a day's work for him.

You can't go on without help for your condition. This surgery seems to be your only option. You've done all your research. You've done your best to choose a good surgeon.

Try to help yourself with regular doses of optimism. You don't have to live with this problem any more. You can be 'repaired'! You're going to feel better than you have in years!

it's been years since we lived in ca, but always thought of Irvine a "brain" trust area...and if you've done that many drs and tests, it sounds like you are very through person who has taken her medical situation well in hand....

prayers and rapid recovery...

No wonder you haven't been posting! I have no experience but wish you a successful surgery and smooth recovery, Jodi.

Jodi, my neighbor had that surgery earlier this year and her recovery was remarkable. She was up and "visiting" within a couple of weeks, but couldn't drive or lift anything for a couple of months. I think she spent two days in the hospital. Sorry, I can't ask her for more details. She moved to Ohio about two months ago. Wishing you a speedy recovery and sending good thoughts and prayers. Bettye/AZ

I'm no help with your questions, but I wanted to send you healing thoughts for a trouble free procedure and recovery. I'll keep you in my T's & P's, especially on 08/21.

Jodi, I am no help with any of this, sorry. Could the cough be from the stress of it all? You will do well, and your DH will be a wonderful Nurse;) Just relax, and follow all of your Dr's orders. Does Hoag maybe have some type of group of exsurgery patients you can talk too. I know some hospitals do that~~~hook you up with someone that can share their experience and give you tips on recovery?

I can't help you either, but I sure will be praying for you Jodi and your surgeon. Wishing you a successful surgery, complete relief from the pain, and a rapid healing.

((((((Jodie)))))))) & Good thoughts & prayers. Marking my calendar too. Nanny

I wish you the best and a speedy recovery.

Good luck with your neck surgery. Hope all goes well. Sounds like you have done your homework and are in good hands. (((HUGS)))

Jodi, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Interesting to hear about the possible correlation between the respiratory problems and the cervical disc problems.
I had spinal stenosis at C3 with disc and bone spur problems and for the last 3 months I have been having cough and shortness of breath a lot. And my lung tests, etc. have been within normal limits. (But now they are checking out my heart.)
Keep us updated, please.

I don't have any similar experiences to share, but am sending good thoughts for complication-free surgery and a speedy and complete recovery. Please keep us posted.

I am so sorry you are going through this but thankfully you have excellent medical care.
I am sure you know that there can be respiratory aspects involved with the rheumatoid arthritis. I have been going through lots of scans, mri, and test because I have a cough and breathing that will not resolve or respond to various treatments. My rheumatologist and my pulmonologist are working together with my ENT to try to get to the root of the problem. It's frustrating to say the least. I have torn a hernia in my bellybutton and need surgery for it, due to the coughing, but it can't be done till the cough is resolved or it can happen again.
So I can definitely understand your concern about the cough. They of course immediately went to the acid reflux probability, but I am on medication for that and it is well controlled. I do have asthma and it does cause me to cough when it flares. My lungs look OK so far on the scans except for a couple of nodules which they seem to think are granulomas, and not the issue. So what is left? The sinuses. I have had scans done and examination by scope. This is where I am now, see the ENT this week.
I have never heard of the cough and breathing problems from compression of the neck but I think it most certainly could be, there is so much structure and nerves, and vessels etc running through the neck in an already limited space that any compression in the area could cause adverse effects in a variety of areas.
I will be very interested in hearing about your experience please keep us and me informed of your progress.
Thoughts and prayers go with you through this process.

Jodi, I don't know anybody who's had anything similar done. Praying that everything goes well and it's completely fixed.

As far as the breathing problems, I'm plagued with that problem, asthma, pneumonia several times, cancer removed from one lung. But recently I took a tumble and immediately my breathing become very labored and after ruling everything else out, they did a CT of my lung and found an embolism, prescribed blood thinners and it seems to be better now. Have you fallen lately?

Jodi, I wish I knew what kind of neck surgery my hairdresser had. It sounds similar. I can only tell you that after surgery, he's always smiling and upbeat because he is now pain free,

Wishing you a successfully surgery, speedy recovery and many years of pain-free living. ((((Jodi))))

Adding my well-wishes and prayer for a super-successful surgery and an end to your cough and breathing problems.

Any chance you're on a bp med such as Lisinopril or similar? There is a VERY common side-effect of coughing, in one form or another that is actually referred to as "the Lisinopril cough." My form was the constant clearing of my throat and it took me a long time and some sleuthing to figure this out. Even though it is common, from my reading I understand that many doctors don't have a clue about this common side effect--go figure.

No help, but wishing the best for you! It sounds like you have no choice, and this is the best possible solution. So glad you will find relief!

There are many blood pressure meds that cause a cough, I have found only one in the many different ones that I can take with out a cough. My doctors are now aware of my high sensitivity. It can happen with other meds also, one of the diabetes meds I tried caused a cough. I found several other people on the diabetes forums that had the same problem.
So any medication you are taking research it thoroughly and check out the forums for others having the same symptoms. My doctor was totally unaware of the diabetes drug having a cough as a side effect, I told her my findings and after researching found it was a listed side effect. Now she knows that if her other patients who take that med get a cough to consider the medicine for the cause.

Good luck thoughts, Jodi!

Can't offer information or help about your procedure. Just know that you will be on my mind and in my prayers.

Jodi, I don't know anything about the procedure you're having, but want you to know I will be thinking about you and praying that you have a good outcome.

My sister saw your doctor for her back when he was in a different practice. She liked him.

Thank you everyone.

Regarding the cough ...

I have just recently started high blood pressure meds. I think the pain I'm experiencing has caused my blood pressure to elevate slightly. Because I now have kidney issues, the GP wants my blood pressure under control. She specifically put me on a med that does not have coughing as a potential side-effect. I was coughing for a year before being put on the blood pressure med.

I do have reflux, silent reflux and take 40mg of omeprazole a day to control it. I have no symptoms whatsoever, hence the name, "silent".

The pulmonary doctor I saw put me on steroids by pill, inhaler and nose spray plus a rescue inhaler, all of which did nothing. Despite that, he gave me a diagnosis of Bronchial Asthma.

I've had three chest/lung x-rays done in an 8 month period and they are all clear.

I have no cardiac issues, am not diabetic and have not taken a tumble. :-)

What inhaler did your pulmonary guy prescribe? I'd think he would have had to heard some wheezing to diagnose asthma. (The cells lose elasticity and are less efficient at expelling air.)

I've had sinusitis, then asthma since 1978. Advair 250/50 twice a day keeps me from gasping and coughing. I've been prescribed other inhalers that did nothing. I keep a rescue inhaler (albuterol) but replace it only because it's expired. Advair contains steroids and contributes to bone loss, but one has to keep breathing! I attribute my major bone loss to the years when I had frequent asthma attacks that required oral steroids -- before Advair.

I was going to suggest silent reflux, but that base sounds covered. The only other suggestion I could give (and you probably don't want any more tests) would be an upper endoscopy to verify that your esophagus is not damaged from the reflux. There is a condition known as Barrett's esophagus which is damage to the lining of the esophagus from reflux. Good luck with your surgery and healing.

he would have had to heard some wheezing to diagnose asthma"

Nope! The MD at the asthma place swore I didn't have asthma. I swore I did. He gave in and sent me for a methacholine challenge, and sure enough, I have asthma. Basing it on wheezing won't do it. I don't even have a cough, much less a persistant cough, like most people do. Symptoms vary from individual to individual. Only an asthmatic will have a positive result on this test.

Here is a link that might be useful: methacholine challenge info

I can tell you from direct personal that all the blood pressure meds can cause a cough I have tried every single one even the ones my doc said they swear it will not cause a cough but in the small print hidden away it says it can in some people I am that person and it is possible you are too. The only one I can take is Atenolol - Tenormin same with my mother.
IF you recently started a new bp med and the cough soon appeared it is a suspect.

I want to caution those using Advair powder inhalers, I had been using it for a very long time. Back in December I was sick with bronchitis and lost my voice, it has never fully returned and it is not the same voice at all. There has been reports and evidence that in some cases the Advair is the cause of people losing their voices or having drastic changes in their voice.
Lots of people in the forums that have this happening to them.
I don't know if something changed in the Advair or what but I had been on and off of it as needed for years and then this happened. It is extremely upsetting because I literally don't know what sound will come out of my mouth when I open it.
My ENT and I talked about it and he is aware of the Advair problem and told me they are trying to move away from the powder inhalers. He put me on Dulera inhaler with a spacer chamber.
So just be aware of that if you do use Advair. I don't know if any of the other powder inhalers have had the problems or not.
There are others listed on google searches but I don't have personal knowledge. And one thing I have been told is that instead of just rinsing out your mouth after every use of Advair to also gargle a few times. I had started doing that too. To clear the power out so it is not just sitting there.

I have occasional wheezing with my asthma but definitely not always so it is not always diagnosed by wheezing.

A cough is one of the most difficult things to root out believe me I know this from experience! Very frustrating.
One thing you might try, get some of that Chloraseptic throat spray and spray it way back in the very back of your throat so it numbs that area. For me that can help because that is where the cough trigger is for me. I don't use much because I hate the stuff and try not to get it in my mouth.

Google Advair lawsuits for info on some of the problems including death that have been reported and also Google advair and voice loss for info on that side effect.
I did not know about any of this so I am just giving a heads up for anyone else that may not know.
Being informed and pro active is a must these days with our own health care.

Jodi....my daughter Carri had something simaliar last Feb.

I'm not sure what bones but the took two out and two of the pads. Replaced them with cadiver bones in there.
They also did hers from the front of her neck.
She hads a plate and screws in there.
She is much better...her spinal cord was pinched and she was in a lot of pain.

Her biggest problem is her body does not keep the calcium in it so she is still taking very large doses of vitamin D daily. She went back three months later and her bones had not fused

her is a pic of what they did....if you can tell from the xray

Good luck, Jodi!

Jodi, you are in my prayers!

Tami

I'll be thinking of you Jodi and wishing you all the best as you recover. Wish I had some answers for you.

The only reason I delayed posting a comment was because I don't have any advice to offer you. But I can give you my very best wishes and good thoughts for you!

Pattico, looks like maybe C5 and C6.

I will be having C3, C4, and C5 fused after they replace the disks (what you are calling pads I think) with cadaver bone. Then they will remove C6 and C7 and put a spacer in the height of two vertebrae and disks and then fuse the spacer to the fused C3-C5 vertebrae.

My biggest concern other than whether or not I will even make it off the operating table is ... with all that metal, will I ever be able to have an MRI done if I need one in the future? And what about airport scans?

Jodi, it depends on what type of metal is used as to whether it's safe or not. I don't think the airport scanner will be a problem, a lot of people have metal in their bodies and travel all the time.

Good luck with your surgery. Will be saying a prayer for you and hope it goes well. I have had a lot of Neurosurgery patients over the years and most do excellent. Up and walking the same day of surgery and go home the very next day.

You're in my thoughts and prayers, Jodi. I've not had the type of surgery you're about to have but I've had enough "parts" worked on and/or removed to tell you that I empathize with you right now. I'm sure...at least in my case...that the days/weeks before surgeries are absolutely the worst times. My imagination always manages to drive me to the very edge of sensibility. I'd always be much happier if they'd just call me up an hour before the surgery and have me rush over for the necessary attention. An impossibility...I know. But it sure would be nice if it could be done that way.

BTW...I agree with Rob333. You don't need to be a wheezer to have asthma. I've had asthma for most of my 75 years and I rarely, if ever, wheeze. But I do get very short of breath during times of stress...both mental and physical...and have been known to have a dry cough related to the asthma as well as sinus issues.

Courage, Jodi. We're all here for you.

Anne

No personal experience here, but both my brother and niece have had serious back surgeries. They each recovered quickly and are glad to be rid of pain. Good luck. I miss seeing you at the table.

Hi Jodi -
I've been thinking about you, recently, because you told me (in the beginning of summer) that your surgery would be some time in August.

I have a friend, Kathy, who's a retired Irvine school teacher. She had a surgery that sounds very similar to what you are about to have. She would like to talk with you. I'll send you her phone # in an email.
It's comforting to have people to talk to who have been through similar situations.

My thoughts and prayers will be with you (especially on August 21). If you need anything, just ask! .....easy enough for me to lend a hand since I just live a few houses away : )

Laurie

Jodi, I had c2 thru c4 done 1 year ago, I recovered quickly
My biggest problem after surgery was ( normal reactions) gagging , coughing, and a very hoarse voice for a couple months. They move your voice box and everything in front of your spine to do this surgery. I feel my scar is much larger then others I have seen.
I was very messed up before surgery and feel wonderful now. I was in Tulsa brain and spine hospital and they were all a great team.
Good luck and follow all doctor orders and you will have a speedy recovery!

Thanks Laurie, I got your email and will call Kathy this weekend.

I've seen a pulmonary doctor about my cough and breathing difficulties and since none of the meds he had me on worked, I need to go in for further study. Problem is, he is far away and I work full-time. Even he asked why I was driving so far to see him. I told him he came highly recommended by my GP. If my cough isn't related to my neck problems, I will seek out a closer pulmonary specialists.

Ugh, I can't even image more gagging, coughing and voice issues.

Jodi, did you have your surgery? I saw you post somewhere else here and wondered if it went through or was postponed.

S

Thanks for asking Socks ....

Had the surgery one week ago today. Got out of the hospital the next afternoon. I'm now home wearing a hard collar, bone stimulator machine and trying to stay off the computer. I'm only allowed on for 20 mins at a time. I was totally bed-ridden until yesterday... sleeping most of the day and night, so that helped keep me off the computer.

So far the only real pain is my throat and left shoulder. Loss of voice is typical with this surgery. Mine finally came back yesterday afternoon. I was warned my shoulders might hurt after the surgery but was never told why. I might call the doctor and ask what causes the shoulder pain.

Surgery ended up not quite what I expected. Instead of removing the bottom two fused vertebrae, the doctor cleaned the bone spurs off the fused verts and removed C5 instead. He cleaned up and realigned C3 and C4 and fused C4-C5-C6 with what's called a PEEK cage. From what I can tell, my range of motion is better than before and very little pain when I move. But I'm not going to be able to fully test it for a couple months.

Because my throat is still sore from them moving the esophagus and other stuff aside to access the spine from the front, it's difficult to tell if my cough and breathing issues are gone. But I think they are. Just won't know until I'm fully healed.

Jodi-

Jodi, we've been praying for you. Please update as soon as you can.

Good to hear from you Jodi. Listen to your Drs. Sounds as if you're improving. Good thoughts and prayers coming your way for a quick complete recovery. I hope your pain isn't too severe and you have good meds for it.

Great news. Eat lots of popsicles.

So very glad to see your update, Jodi. We must have been posting at the same time. Prayers continue for your healing, a complete speedy recovery and freedom from pain.

A relief to hear how well you are progressing. Hard to be *patient*, but taking it slow will pay off in the end. Do you have care at home?

Jodi, I'm so glad to learn your surgery went well, and I am wishing for your continued healthy healing.