Scared, welcome to the forum! I'm sorry that you find yourself here... not a good place to be in your life.
You have a lot of pathology mentioned, but they all seem to be small, mild, subtle, etc... All of this could be completely asymptomatic, or it could be highly symptomatic. Be very careful because the pathology that looks the worst may not be where the pain is coming from. Are they talking about fusiing from T4 to T9???
There are many different ways to accomplish thoracic fusion. They used to do open thorocotomies; opening your chest to get to the spine from the front. Posterior fusions with pedicle screws and rods are not nice to think about because of the damage done to the musculature and other supporting elements.
In the 90's, Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) was developed, allowing much less invasive access to the thoracic spine through small portals on your side. Better than the other styles (if you are a candidate), but still not a great surgery.
Now, many surgeons can offer XLIF, (eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion). I believe that this is the least innvasive approach... especially for multi-level procedures. I'd only consider this from someone with GREAT experience in this technique... they know how to stay out of trouble (from learning on their early patients). You may not be a candidate for XLIF.
Again, identifying the pain generator; not guessing about it, is key. For thoracic spine surgery, consider looking for the scoliosis specialists because they will have more experience and will have been through the progression of technologies. That gives them an understanding that the younger surgeons will not have.
Good luck! Please keep us posted. I hope the end of this process is you finding some relief.
Mark
PS... what does your cervical MRI show? Can you describe your symptoms in detail?
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