Neck surgery Monday

rayray

Sorry haven't been on forum - typing agony. Neck issue now pretty serious so operating Monday. :shock:

theresak

Good luck with the op on Monday - I hope it goes well and wish you a good recovery.

dreamdaisy

I wish you well, I will be thinking of you. DD

Megrose2

I hope the op goes well, rayray and means you are no longer in such pain.

Meg

rayray

Thank you :cheers:

[Deleted User]

Best Wishes from the moderator team
Sharon

barbara12

Wishing you a really good recovery from the op rayray..and hopefully it will be a great success..x

Slosh

Good luck

nearlybionic

HI Ray Ray
I hope that this surgery goes well and that you have a smooth recovery.
NB

stickywicket

Me too, rayray. Thinking of you.

rayray

Thanks for your good wishes. Surgery cancelled however!

Went in to sign the consent form and the spinal team are now uncertain as to whether my scans and x-rays of my new disc have shown a natural variance or a real issue so I am to have an injection first. Happy about this and I always thought the problem was from an irritated nerve. Would hate to have unnecessary surgery.

Hoping I'm right and it settles. At least I can type a bit today!

Your kind thoughts are hugely appreciated.

barbara12

Oh rayray I hope so to...fingers crossed the injections bring you lots of relief..

Slosh

Fingers crossed that an injection does the trick.

stickywicket

Oh I do hope so. That would be a terrific result and much less worrying. I wish you all the luck in the world, rayray.

Megrose2

I hope the injection works well for you, much better than having to go through surgery. Fingers crossed.

Meg

rayray

I am sorry that I haven't been on the forum much. I have been following all the advice of keeping busy and doing tasks in small bursts and then moving on to something else.

I am also on a much higher dose of Pregabalin which are having an awful affect on my short term memory. Even remembering who is who on this forum is really, really difficult hence I am not posting much - sorry about this.

Sadly my neck is no better. I am having the injection under CT guidance on Thursday which will be fun I'm sure

I should be seeing a surgeon who specialises in complex spinal revision surgery next week so that he can go through my scans and give me his take on whether there is an issue with the disc replacement or not. He has been dealing with these sorts of problems for over a decade and so hopefully he can put my mind (and my local surgeon's) mind at rest.

Have taken a massive decision in the last few weeks. I have decided to take my pension early - I haven't quite reached the magic age of 55 but soon will. I couldn't really take my pension on the grounds of ill health as my GP is unable to say yet whether my neck will improve or not. It all seems a bit unfair but I am lucky to have a small pension coming my way. Having had the problem for five years and with the prospect of one to two years more recovery I really couldn't wait any longer. At least this way, although I get a reduced pension now, I can work in the future when I feel able without the pressure of having to work for money reasons now.

I have to say I do feel more relaxed not worrying about ESA claims. The system is awful and I really feel for people who have to claim for financial reasons. My husband is a CAB advisor and has a constant stream of people who have to appeal claims which have failed. He cannot believe how disabled people are and yet their claims have failed.

Anyway that is where I am. My best wishes to all of you. I know that some of you are awaiting treatment, having treatment or surgery or awaiting results so good luck and hugs to all of you.

dreamdaisy

It's nice to hear from you again, thank you for the update. I'm sorry you have had to increase the pregabalin and that it's bringing its own troubles in its wake. I hope that the chap you are seeing next week will be able to give you some encouragement, sometimes surgery does not provide an answer (as Slosh found out) and that the injection helps matters at least little.

Now, taking your pension - that's a big decision indeed but I think it the right one. I think all of us on here fundamentally know that our conditions will never disappear (with or without surgical intervention) and sometimes the extra pressures we place on ourselves is deleterious to an already difficult situation. Arthritis loves stress so removing a prime cause is an excellent strategy - my heart goes out to those who have to carry on working due to their circumstances. Take care and please let us know how things go. I wish you well. DD

rayray

Thanks DD for your lovely response and support. Yes, with the pension I feel a huge weight has lifted.

I forgot to mention that I have seen the specialist spinal physio who said that it is early days, I have had five years of the nerve being compressed and it will take time to get to fully recover which it may or may not do.

Thanks again DD.

Slosh

Sorry I've not been around for a while. It sounds as though you are getting the best advice possible and that must be very reassuring for you. I hope the injection works for you, I'm waiting for a letter from the hospital to suggest this so my GP can refer me, but he also wants to wait until I've seen rheumy.

It must have been a hard decision about taking early retirement, but it sounds as though you have thought it through carefully, I am lucky in that I was able to go part time and so can postpone that decision.

Take care

Gilli

rayray

Thanks Slosh,

Yes I am getting fantastic care and advice. Necks seem so complicated. I just wish I had been able to have a conversation about expectations post surgery earlier. The surgeon said that the surgery would help the arm pain but not the muscle pain but the arm pain is still awful. The physio has said that the nerve will hurt after five years of being squashed but has no idea yet how much it will recover. Hoping that the injection works and gives it a healing boost.

I hope that your appointments are sorted and that you can feel a bit better. I am a very lucky 'girl' to be able to retire although I have a strong desire to do some work when I feel a bit more up to it.

P.s. I'm a Gilli too! How strange is that.

hileena111

Hi
I hope the injection works for you. It will be a lot betterthan going through an op
Loet us know

Love
Hileena

rayray

I had my injection this morning. It was under CT guidance rather than x-ray. It was very uncomfortable indeed and took a long time BUT the radiologist (who was lovely) said that the location of the pain I experienced confirmed that it was the correct nerve root. Everyone is wired slightly differently and the CT method they now use is very precise indeed. This has put my mind hugely at rest as my consultant was concerned that my pain was from a different nerve root.

I have to wait six weeks and then see my consultant again.

Thanks to all of you for your ongoing support.

dreamdaisy

It's not surprising it was uncomfortable (I reckon that the human body was designed for many things other than needles being stuck in places where they do not belong, even skin pushes a point or two ) but it's very good news that they have targeted the right root. Please take it as easy as you can over the next few days, I'm a great believer in the benefits of rest after any procedure. Take care and please let us know how you are getting on. DD

Slosh

Glad all went well. Now rest, rest and rest!