New Member
 

Hello Everyone! My name is Michele and I am new to the forum, but have searched this site many times before both of my adr surgeries. This is a wonderful site and I've found lots of useful information here. A little background about me. I was rear-ended in 2008 which caused a disc protrusion at C5-6. I went through nearly 2 years of massage therapy, physical therapy and chiropractic before deciding to move forward with surgery. After doing hours of research I knew that I did not want to have a fusion, for a number of reasons.

I had my first disc replacement at the end of November 2010. I had the surgery at my neurosurgeon's surgical center and was able to go home the same day. At first I was a bit scared about not being in a hospital, but after I was very happy to be able to recover in my own bed. After surgery most of my pain was gone, I only had what felt like a lot of pressure behind my neck. My doc told me this was from "jacking up" my spine during surgery. I was prescribed pain killers, muscle relaxers and anti-inflamitories. I was not allowed to do anything for the first 3 weeks after surgery to include no household chores and no lifting.

I was pretty much out of it for the first week, but was up and around soon after. I was able to return to work at the beginning of January and felt great. After a few days though, I began to have the same symptoms I had prior to surgery. I was freaking out and very worried that my surgery had failed. I went in to see my doc and was told this was normal and that it would take some time for nerves to heal and for my muscles to calm down. For the next several months, I continued to use muscle relaxers as needed and went to massage therapy. Eventually, I no longer needed the muscle relaxers, continued going to massage (every 6-8 weeks) and was finally feeling almost normal until October 2012, when I was in another car accident.

One of my greatest fears after surgery was that I had no idea what would happen to my neck if I were to be in another accident. When I arrived at emergency, the doc ordered a CT scan of my neck. Luckily, the disc was still in place and there were no bone fractures. As before, my doc referred me for massage and physical therapy. Only this time, no chiropractic.

Again, after several months of conservative therapy, I was still having pain so my neurosurgeon ordered an MRI and x-ray of my cervical spine. Due to the disc at C5-6, it was difficult to see the adjacent levels, but it appeared that there was a problem with C6-7. My doc referred me for 2 ESI's. Neither gave me much relief.

The next step was to get an EMG & Myelogram with CT scan. The Myelogram revealed mild indentation at C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7. The CT showed a bulge at C6-7. I was then referred for a discogram and was less than thrilled to have to endure this awful test a second time. The discogram revealed no pain at C6-7, moderate to severe concordant pain at C4-5 with annular tearing and filling of the lateral recesses, and moderate concordant pain at C3-4 with annular tearing and filling of the lateral recess. I was pretty devastated by the results and knew I would have to go under the knife or live in constant pain.

As I suspected, my neurosurgeon recommended surgery. We discussed my options. I could either go with 2 more artificial discs, do a hybrid consisting of a fusion and 1 artificial disc or fuse both levels (which he did to recommend). We decided on 2 more Prodiscs. This surgery, along with the first were not covered by my health insurance (that's a whole other story).

So, on November 27, 2013, I became the owner of 2 more Prodiscs. I again had this surgery at my neuro's surgery center. For the most part, my recovery has been much like that of my first surgery. I'm coming up on eight weeks and feeling pretty darn good. I am still taking monic daily and only taking muscle relaxers as needed. I started massage last week and will be going once a week.

So, that's my abreviated story in a nutshell. I've left out quite a bit so if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Don't know what to say, but to wish you a full recovery and pain free. :o

Michelle, I wish you the best as well as a speedy recovery. If you look at my signature, I had issues at the same levels as you. Could you share with the forum the name of your neurosurgeon? Finding quality docs who perform ADR in the U.S. is not so easy.

Gene

Michele, what an unfortunate sequence of events. Congratulations on two successful surgeries. It is very unusual for a US surgeon to suggest three ADRs. Who is your surgeon?

Good luck with a continuing recovery. Jeff

Triple bionic!
 

Congratulations on both surgeries Michele, and thank you for sharing your unfortunate and informative experience. Looking forward to finding the name of the surgeon who did 3 levels of ADR! And at the risk of reminding you of your pain, I would love to learn more about your symptoms, location of pain (neck, shoulder, back & arms) and type (deep, stabbing, burning, numbness...), as I have issues at similar levels (C3-C7) with some worse than others.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes! My neurosurgeon is Dr. Richard Wohns. He is at Neospine located in Puyallup, WA. Neospine (neospine.net) and the Microsurgical Spine Center (mybacklife.com) both have informative websites. Dr. Wohns an amazing surgeon with impressive credentials. I wouldn't want anyone else to operate on me. As I've read over and over again on this site, the most important thing you can do is find the right surgeon. You must also be your own best advocate and ask lots of questions.

My symptoms related to C5-6 were: burning between shoulder blades, pain under both shoulder blades, neck pain, tingling & numbness in both arms, wrist pain both sides, shoulder & forearm pain left side, occipital pain, stabbing in right shoulder, trapezius both sides, bicep pain, weakness in left arm which caused me to drop things, and neck stiffness.

Symptoms related to C3-4 & C4-5: burning between shoulder blades, stabbing & burning under shoulder blades both sides, neck pain, left collar bone pain, shoulder pain both sides, occipital pain, deltoid pain both sides, bicep pain both sides, pain on both sides of my neck, rib cage pain, headache, trapezius pain both sides, tricep pain, and tingling in left arm.

Sitting and driving caused pain both times. Sleeping was effected more the second time than the first.

I hope this helps. I too had a difficult time finding many folks out there that had multi-level cervical adr, which is why I wanted to become a member of this site. It is a very scary and stressful thing to have to endure, especially when there is little information out there.

Michele,

I am so encouraged by your story! I live in WA and am currently under care of DR. John Pryor in Everett. We are looking at a two level ADR and he is willing to perform it but I doubt my insurance will cover it. My brother was talking to his DR. About me. She apparently worked with Dr. Wohns and recommended him highly. I looked up his credentials and WOW!!!!! I might have to make a trip to Puyallup! It's only about an hour from me.


I don't believe DR. Pryor has done a two level, or at least he said he has never seen insurance cover it. It is encouraging to hear Dr. whons has!!


How was your experience there? Do you live in Wa??

@ Kelly4ADR - Yes, I do live in WA. I have not heard of Dr. Pryor, but that may only be because he is located in Everett. Please keep in mind that it may be difficult to quickly get an appointment with Dr. Wohns because he is so busy. Even so, he is worth the wait and I believe it would be worth your time to meet with him. He really is my hero! : )

As for insurance coverage, I was not able to get my insurance to cover either of my surgeries. The first, because it was still considered experimental and the second because I already had one artificial disc. I had to pay for both out of pocket. The fight with my insurance was very frustrating, but at the same time I knew I did not want a fusion.

My experience with Dr. Wohns and the Microsurgical Spine Center has been wonderful. I have no complaints and would recommend both with no reservations. I'm happy to answer any additional questions you may have to the best of my ability. I know how scary this process can be. Please keep me posted.

Michele