My back and especially neck are a bit of a hot mess. Developed burning pain in right arm Dec '21 and ended up getting a C-5/6/7 fusion in May '22. Took out the discs, substitued some very expensive titanium spacers, and secured the lot with a plate and 6 screws spanning the 3 vertabrae. Recovery wasn't too bad, other than 6 weeks in the horse collar, and the problem was corrected. Couldn't do much of anything for six months, but was back playing golf and riding the bike by Thanksgiving. I'm now sporting even more hardware, as you can see in the pic.
Unfortunately developed new trouble at C-7/T-1 on the left side starting in March and now I've got constant pain behind my left shoulder blade and down the outside of my left arm. Have a C-7/T-1 laminectomy/foraminotomy w/possible discectomy scheduled for a week from today. This one's too low on the neck so they have to go in from the back, which involves a pretty large and deep incision. I expect recovery to be shorter (no waiting on bones to grow), but more painful. Hope to be able to hit the links sometime early next year, god and my surgeon willing.
If there's one thing I've learned as I've aged, teeth and joints were not made to last beyond about 50 years. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.
