[Cheryl]

I saw the spine doctor Mark recommend for a second time this morning. This was a 3 month post op for LUMBAR ADR in Germany. My low back is okay, xrays look good there is still some pain and soreness but the real problem has now become pain my neck. I can barely hold my head up for the day. I can't cook, read or do anything with my neck held down. He xrayd my neck which shows some degeneration at C5-C6 but HE doesn't think that is the source of the pain. He feels that the degeneration shown on the xray is consistent for my age. I'll have an MRI on May 27th which may or may not give us some more insight. If that is inconclusive then he'll order an EMG. He firmly believes that the low back surgery had NOTHING to do with my neck problem. He says its purely coincidental. The bottom line is that he says I have bad back genes.

I have been trying so hard to keep positive that this pain was a side effect of my ADR surgery and that it will go away but actually hearing that its unrelated to the surgery has made it harder to believe that.


I know the feeling and I believe this is exactly the same pain as my low back had. I believe it is coming from the degeneration

I follow up with him on June 5th so we'll see where that gets us.


I’ve done Pt for 6 weeks now with no good results. The muscle spasms have decreased but the pain hasn't and fear I’m going down the same path as my low back.



I just last week committed to coming back to work for one shift beginning June 4th. I can barely hold my head up but my job gives me some sense of purpose so I really want to get back to it. Unfortunately its like everything else the mind wants to do it but the body is not agreeing.



I just cannot believe this is happening again. Its unreal.


Cheryl