Reintroducing myself more surgery Lumbar now Cervical!

[Abbe]

Well,
It has been about 18 months since my surgery. Here is the first thing I am going to stress. Everyone is different and every situation is different, we all have different levels of pain tolerance and different ways of dealing with and describing the symptoms.

That said here I go, For the most part my lower back is better but I will never be 100% I am off of all pain medication but have recently gone back to 1 600mg neuronton before bed. (I'll explain a little later why). When I wake up in the morning I am mostly (Lower back) pain free YAY! I can do most activities within reason (I am not going to run a marathon) Walking is good yet I do have some radiating symptoms going down my left leg. Not always painful but more of an annoyance. The most annoying symptom I still have is my left foot gets hot and tingly and feels somewhat swollen by the evening if I have been very active and on my feet during the day. I can feel the the facet area gets fatigued and I can tell mostly if I am bending forward slightly like over a table working for too long.

I sleep on a memory foam topper on my bed. I did try for a while not using that but have concluded it is much better with the topper.

I just need to know my body's limitations and work within those limitations. I am no longer a "spring chicken" but I refuse to give up!

Now for what has been going on other than the lower back...
I started having the most intense itching in both my arms at night and could not sleep or satisfy the deep itching going on in my arms (top of the arms above the elbow area is the best way I can describe it.) I would get up at night and strap on these small blue ice packs from the freezer that one would use in a lunch box to keep the food cold. That would be the only way that I could get back to sleep. There was nothing on the skin area that would indicate any type of skin condition and like I said the itching was deep inside and could not be satisfied by scratching. So, I started taking 1- 600mg neurontin before bed and that has helped the itching situation. Then out of the blue and after I did not use the ice packs on a regular basis since starting on the neuronton my elbows both felt like I had a really bad case of tennis elbow. The pain radiated down my arms and into my fingers (pinky, ring, and middle) to the point I could not hold things and my hand strength was affected. That is when I decided it was time to go to the doctor.

Well, after a couple of months and the runaround and misdiagnosis of ulna nerve entrapment. I finally had an MRI of my neck and it showed 2 disc issues at C4-C5 & C5-C6.
Report says:
C4-5 Right posterior paracentral disc protrusion abuts the right anterior aspect of the spinal cord. There is CSF space posterior to the cord The neural formina are patent.
C5-6 Disc space narrowing. Degenerative changes of the end plates. Left posterior disc protrusion abuts and mildly indents the left anterior aspect of the spinal cord. There is a small amount of CSF space posterior to the cord. The neural formina are patent.
There is artifact projecting over the cervical spinal cord No definite abnormal signal from within the spinal cord.

So, I have just been back to Dr. Fribourg and he would like to do a hybrid surgery with a fusion and a disc replacement using the Prestige C and Synfix cage and DBX (bone protein)
I am open to thoughts, comments, and advice.
Thanks,
Abbe