Sorry to hear, devo, and yeah...it's all so nightmarish. I wish it were more predictable, more definitive. The twist for me is that right now, for the most part, I feel very good. Almost 100% I know a lot of you are experiencing terrible pain and I don't mean to be insensitive to your experience but for me, the idea of doing 4 levels (four levels!) preemptively when I feel as good as I do is just so hard to fathom; that I'll consciously choose to go from almost nothing in a relatively unaffected life to one of short or long-term pain, into the great unknown with the potential for substantial permanent life-alteration, is unfathomable. I feel I need an obvious sign... but it might be that waiting to feel 'the sign' might be too late. And the idea that symptoms can continue after compression is a new ugly wrinkle. I hadn't heard that, but then again I've heard many contradicting opinions from the best doctors around, which makes it all the more unsettling and unknowable. Like all of us, I've had to become a self-advocating spinal expert...the stakes couldn't be higher... and I'm a film editor?! It's scary. I do think Drewrad is correct that the symptoms from two identical MRI's, two different patients, can be very very different. I'm certainly proof of it because the reactions to my MRI have run from "you've got time" to "absolutely horrible" and 2-Level ADR to a 4-Level fusion to everything in-between-- and these are opinions from over a dozen of the world's best: US, Europe, South America. That said, I'm still very interested to hear about the specifics of one's symptoms that either caused, or are leading to, a surgical decision. I'm just not sure that what I'm feeling now warrants "the ultimate concern" or if I'm just being paranoid. I realize I have reason to be paranoid, mind you, but I'm willing to risk it somewhat, given the advice I've been given by my chosen doctor. Risk is relative, and unforeseeables notwithstanding...I just want to get a clear picture of what any of you have used as your benchmark for action.
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DEC 2010 -- 51 yrs old-- multiple problems with C3-C7 --kyphosis, stenosis, cord flattening that has slowly evolved from a fall at age 12-- not much pain yet but told to fuse 4 levels and looking for alternatives
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