[Disky]

First of all, I just want to say thanks for this amazing forum! I’m so glad I found it and hope to have a positive impact here as I continue though my journey whether or not I end up having surgery.

As for me and my story, I’ll try to be as clear and concise as possible. 38 year old male, symptoms stared almost three years ago exactly. I woke up one morning with severe neck pain and I assumed it was just another ‘crick in the neck’ episode that would resolve on its own. It didn’t.

A few months later I knew something was wrong when I experienced pins and needles shoot down my arm. I went straight to the doctor who gave me a round of prednisone and sent me to physical therapy. The pins and needles subsided but the pain returned.

The years went by and since everyone I saw assumed I had some kind of muscular issue, no image was ever done. After trying every conservative treatment available from Chiro to Acupunture,, Botox Shots, PT, etc. I finally went to my primary care physician and demanded an MRI which he ordered immediately.

The MRI showed DDD at C5C6 as well as osteophytes with moderate to severe stenosis on right, less so on left. My primary Dr. didn’t think it was that bad and suggested nerve block shots which I did two of with no relief. The radiologist that did the nerve blocks informed me that the inflammation was severe and disc loss was substantial. This was a surprise to me considering the initial diagnosis. At this point, I knew it was time to meet with a surgeon to get their take. I have since met with six. Here is a summary of what they said:

1st two. suggested disc replacement without hesitation. I was shocked. I didn’t even know about this procedure and didn’t realize my condition was that severe. One of these surgeons was Neel Anand from Ceader’s who I understand is very prominent in the field. I was having my worst week of pain yet and almost pulled the trigger but held off.

3rd Dr. Bill Caton (head of neurosurgery at Huntington Memorial in Pasadena, CA ) said the disc loss wasn’t that bad and suggested traction and cervcal collar. Traction seems to make things worse and the collar seems a little silly honestly. I can’t imagine sleeping with this thing would my symptoms and it’s very uncomfortable.

4th Dr. Jeffrey Wang (co-head of the spice center at USC) did an X-Ray and said I have the worst condition possible to treat. DDD + Arthritis. From the X-Ray he said it’s basically bone-on-bone which it did look to be. He was not optimistic about surgery for me (not sure why exactly) but said if I couldn’t take pain then I should have a discogram and fusion -- though he seemed to have no interest in doing either. I practically left his office in tears.

5th was a report from Grand Rounds which is a service that was available to me free through work. They basically gather your medical records and send them to a top 1% person in that field and they give you back a report with recommendations. The report was extremely detailed and the surgeon (Dr. Greg Gebauer) recommended for me to hold off on surgery if I can but said if it got bad enough that disc replacement would make the most sense. He felt strongly that C5C6 was the source of my pain but cautioned that it’s always difficult to be sure etc.

Lastly, I met with Dr. Hyun Bae in Santa Monica who I understand to be a big-time disc-replacement surgeon. He was awesome and put it to me very plainly. “Do you NEED surgery? No. Will surgery help you? YES! It is a quality of life issue.”

Now, it’s decision time. You see, I have full motor function and experience almost no numbness, needles etc. so while surgery may not be 100% medically necessary, my quality of life at times has been seriously compromised. Just the other day I had an episode where I woke up and could barely move my head. I somehow got through the next few work-days but was miserable, even claustrophobic due to the compromised range of motion and pain. I’m doing much better today (if it was like this every day I wouldn’t have surgery) but I’m just about fed up with this and feel like it’s time to pull the trigger on the procedure.

Dr. Bae was unbelievably cool with me and as of this moment, I’m planning to call and set a date with him sometime next week unless of course, you all chime in and give me compelling reasons not to, which I implore you to do!

So, I hand it over to you good citizens of this forum! I have two young children and this has really affected my life. I feel like if there’s a chance to get better that I have to take it. Conversely, I’m terrified that the surgery could make me worse and I would be just devastated if that were to happen. As I said, no neurological symptoms, no headaches, I sleep fine etc. It’s just the PAIN!

Bae prefers the Mobi-C (I believe he was on the design team) but my insurance doesn’t cover it so he said he would use the ProDisc (although I wonder if I should just pay for the Mobi-C out of pocket? Are they that much better any idea how much they cost?)

Thank you all for listening. Please let me know what you think I should do! I welcome any and all feedback or if you have links to other threads you think I should read through, I would really appreciate it!

-Mike D(isky)