Cervical spine issues and Apnea

What an interesting week for me -

First - my wife was in the hospital with a "virus that mimics" the symptoms of meningitis. She is home and getting better each day.

Second - I get the results of my MRI of my c-spine and find out that I have a herniated disc and one about to go as well
Third - I go to my sleep doc for my almost one year check up. My AHI / pressure needs have slowly been rising over the
year.

I bring up the issue with my neck with the sleep doc and she thinks that it might be due to the bone spurs on the front of the spine are pushing out right where the esophagus and trachea split. She stated that she has seen this in rare cases, it is just my anatomy and the location of the issue



Any thoughts about this, i have noticed as the pain has gotten worse, I feel like I have a "lump" in my throat. I right now I am in a waiting game as I see the surgeon on the 9th.

I just can't wait to see what happens next.

MRI's are just like sleep studies, did you get a dictated report of it?

From what I can see, c4-c6 looks pretty bad. Fusion surgery will more than likely be in your future. I'm not going to sugar coat it as it may or may not take care of your problems. I would bring up the lump in your throat feelings that you are having as well as the apnea issues as well.

I was fortunate as when I had to have an emergency fusion of c5-c6 that it took care of most of my pain related problems. My (now ex) wife couldn't understand why I was crying after surgery. It was tears of joy as the pain was all gone. My disc was ruptured and spilling into the spinal canal. I had to wear a neck brace before surgery as the doctor explained that even if I sneezed wrong, I could end up being a quadriplegic.

Now my mom had c4-c5 fused and just like you had the "lump in your throat feeling" but her fusion never resolved all of the pain nor the feeling.

Now grant you it was two different doctors but if you would like to read more about what you might be in for head over here and read up.

http://www.spine-health.com/forum/treat ... ck-surgery

They have a lot of useful info over there and are much like here, very friendly and supportive.

The only other thing I can tell you is that you will want to schedule an appointment to get a second opinion asap as well. Some neurosurgeons can take 6-8 weeks to get into. And I HIGHLY recommend a neuro on this one. From what I have read that the success rate for c-spine surgery is much greater with a neuro than an ortho.

I love my neuro, best doctor that I have ever had.

If you find yourself lost or just want to talk about it, PM me. I'm getting ready for surgery number two as my lower back is jealous of my neck and wants some nice shiny hardware as well.

Thanks Allen,

Actually - I have two appointments scheduled, one is the referral that my family doc made for me with an orthopedic spine specialist and one with the neurosurgeon that did my wife's L5-S1 surgery. I am ready to go to surgery tomorrow as it is getting worse each day. I have been through the course of physical therapy, which just made things worse.

Word of warning on the lower back surgery - it is a much longer recovery time. My wife's recovery time was about 8 weeks and she is still not back to full strength yet. I even had a friend that had both a cervical fusion and a lower back fusion was the harder surgery. Now both people are glad they did the surgery's s. On his cervical fusion is was 3 weeks and he was back to work, on his back it was 6 weeks before he was back to work.

Oh Dave, I'm so sorry to hear about the issues you and your wife have and are currently experiencing! I had a cervical fusion a number of years ago and although I will always have residual problems in my neck, the relief I have gotten has made life liveable. Good that you are seeing two specialists and I agree with allen476, and would only let a neurosurgeon near my spine with a scalpel. Gosh, I wish you the very best and hope you will be posting your progress.

Suz

retrodave15 wrote:Thanks Allen,

Actually - I have two appointments scheduled, one is the referral that my family doc made for me with an orthopedic spine specialist and one with the neurosurgeon that did my wife's L5-S1 surgery. I am ready to go to surgery tomorrow as it is getting worse each day. I have been through the course of physical therapy, which just made things worse.

Word of warning on the lower back surgery - it is a much longer recovery time. My wife's recovery time was about 8 weeks and she is still not back to full strength yet. I even had a friend that had both a cervical fusion and a lower back fusion was the harder surgery. Now both people are glad they did the surgery's s. On his cervical fusion is was 3 weeks and he was back to work, on his back it was 6 weeks before he was back to work.

I was out 2 months with my neck.

I am being advised that it will be 4 months minimum for my back. I have to have l4-l5 and l5-s1 fusion and a discectomy on l3-l4. After the surgery, I have to go to a rehab facility for 3-4 weeks and that is something I am not looking forward to.

I am glad you have the second opinion already lined up. I didn't need one with my neck as the MRI showed everything clearly. On my back, I got a second opinion and the only difference between the two was one would do it as two surgeries and my current neuro would do it as one but both agreed on what would have to be done.

I can sympathize with the pain and wanting to have it fixed immediately. Before I had my neck done, I was in constant pain. The way I would describe it was the worst stiff neck that you have ever had and multiply it by 10 and that was where I was at.

Let us know what the surgeon says.