man, that's terrible.... sorry to hear it.  but in the meantime, did anyone suggest / reccomend passive strengthening / motion exercises to help maintian the back&core muscles that support your spine?

planks, pool, etc.....

Good luck. Stay safe. Posture posture posture. Hope to see you in the water after surgury.

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http://www.passmorept.com/blog/?page_id=50

Why 'Useless' Surgery Is Still Popular

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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

The problem with a fusion is that it will end up screwing up your spine just above and just below those segments. Why? The spine is meant to flex and bend and distribute load, and stopping that only transfers extra load to the adjacent segments.

This is why, when surgery cant be avoided, that artifial discs are a much better option. You can relieve the pressure on the nerves, maintain the flexibility and load bearing ability, restore segment height, and prevent any cord damage by removing material compromising it.

Not to mention, the recovery is vastly faster and easier. I was in the water on a longboard as soon as my stitches were removed. No big or heavy waves allowed, but was cleared up to chest high medium period swell by Dr. Masson for 8 weeks and no heavy lifting or overhead lifting.

After that, I was able to work back up slowly to full load and was pretty much back to normal ...minus the numbness, pain, and strength loss by week 12. Compared to 6-9 months for fusion.... cake walk.

thanks!

I am still not 100% in favor of the surgery - but I think it would be prudent to have a surgeon's opinion so that's why I have the consult.

We're going to keep doing the PT sessions though - they've been the most helpful of anything so far.

Good info. Thank you!

thanks for sharing that info!

HERC4810 has been coming over and doing some PT sessions with me, and has shown me some exercises to do on my own time.

I have the first of three 'cervical epidural' procedures next week.

What has anybody's experience been with them?

You would think a big needle going into your spine would hurt, but after the local....no pain at all. 

It will most likely give you some much needed relief. Did they explain the procedure at all? 

I've seen them done in the interventional radiology suites where they use real time flouro-imaging to precisely deliver the medication into the epidural space so that it can 'bathe' the spinal cord. The patients seem to get a lot of relief from the injections, but it is transient and not forever-lasting. They will numb you up and maybe give you some benzos to calm the nerves. 

It's a very common procedure and I hope it gives you the relief you need until you can see your surgeon. Good luck! 

 

I had a couple in my neck after a car accident, and to be honest, they didnt really do shit..... the only thing that really helped was PT and ice, which I still need to do on occasion 6 years later

 

in regards to the surgery article, I know this is about your neck, but a big part of the article was unneccsary knee opps:

The meniscus in both my knees are pretty shot, and I've had surgery on one.

I wiill say that it was no miracle worker, but it definitely helped.  Mine was from an acute injury and there was shredded meniscus getting caught in my knee joint doing damage. They couldnt repair (pretty torn, and 40 yrs old) so they trimmed it out.  I saw the arthrosope photos before and after....  basically cleaned out and smoothed up to prevent more damage (and I couldnt even surf at the time so)  but seeing my dad with 2 knee replacements, being proactive was in the back of my mind

 

The epidural shots worked for me and let me delay surgery for like 4 years until I got worse. Your situation doesn't seem like it will delay surgery as much as it will help with symptoms until you get it.

I am sorry to say you need to do the research on this and contact the MDs who perform this procedure with the link I provided previously. I am not qualified to answer your questions. 

Prolothearpy works. I refferred an acquantance/friend who is a Physcian Assistant for over 35 years and MDs come to him for MD advice; he is that good at what he does. When his back got messed up similar to the conditions you have described, I recommended he researched the Prolothearpy treatment. With his medical background, he chose this proceedure. His situation was so severe they had to use somekind of hyperbaric chamber therapy to prepare him for the prolotherapy in order to take pressure off the spine so that the rejuvination process would have a higher level of success. I have not seen him in a little over a year because we moved, but last I spoke to him, his back was completely restored to full strength and greater than 95% manuverability.

 

pm sent

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we are they, they are us -- Thich Nhat Hanh

latest update - ;

After seeing a few chiros, doing some PT exercises, the pain in my shoulder and arm has dropped to about a 3. However I still have the constant buzzing feeling going down my arm to my fingertips and serious weekness in my right arm. to the point that I cant' even do one pushup, and have trouble pulling a t-shirt over my head. that's where my conditioon was when I had my first cervical epidural last week.

I don't think the epidural did much of anything. I didn't have much pain going into it - I still don't but I still have the same level of buzziness and lack of strength.

I have been doing some arm/shoulder exercises on my own, and I have an appointment with Dr. Masson in two weeks. I'm looking for a proper fix before my arm muscles wither away to nothing.

Keep up whatever the PT suggested.  I had a surprisingly long recovery a few years ago from nothing more than persistent trapezius muscle spasms, which were surprisingly disabling.  As in getting a t-shirt on.  Move the shoulder and arm around as much as possible.  Me, I've got to return to PT type stuff for my repaired left shoulder, which is still kind of stiff.  

My painful swollen foot may not have been so much infection (which could have been serious) as gout (no scallops, cut the red meat, avoid alcohol and fructose).  It was a really disabling kind of pain.  

 

For what its worth, after 5 months of a persistent and irritating pain in my neck, I threw down a 20 for a inflatable cervical collar from Amazon.  After a week of using it for 30 minutes a day I have full mobility, no pain and the snapping and cracking have almost stopped.  Besides that night in San Salvador, it was the best $20 I ever spent.

Look forward to helping with exercises more when you get back in town. Take care of your posture when flying.
Glad to hear symptoms are slightly better.
Let's not let this weakness progress.
Some one said it correct earlier, the injection can masks the symptoms but never does it chnage any structural issues.

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http://www.passmorept.com/blog/?page_id=50

I had two separate consultations with a neurosurgeon - Dr. Masson - in Orlando this week. He is recommending a two level artificial disc replacement and considered it serious enough that he put me at the front of his line. I could get this done as early as next week.

According to him: Although I don't have any arm pain, the tingling sensation in my arm extending to my fingertips and the significant muscle strength loss in my right tricep warrants the procedure.

Regarding the muscle strength. I can do 10 reps of single arm triceps extensions with my left arm holding a 25 pound dumbbell no problem. with my right arm I can't do one rep with a 5 pound dumbell.

He doesn't feel any of the more conservative treatments I've tried is going to help, and said that the longer I don't address the nerve damage the more long term or permanent my muscle weakness will be.

I've never had any surgery before, and frankly the thought of it scares the hell out of me. But if that's what I need to do I will do it. I could use some support from surfers that have had positive surgery outcomes right now.