I'm back!!!!
 

Hello everyone. I had my surgery on Friday and am now home feeling relatively good. I underwent a three-level cervical adr in Orlando, FL. The surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Masson Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, Back Surgery, Artificial Disc Surgery, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Surgery | NeuroSpine Institute | Central Florida and Orlando. Along with the disc replacement were removal of osteophytes and some repositioning/alignment of vertebrae. The surgery lasted approx 2 hours. Dr. Masson is really quite impressive as is his entire staff.
Within an hour of regaining consciousness I was moving around and speaking. Symptoms such as paresthesia, numbness, claudication, radicular pain, weakness seemed to have disappeared.
The pain from the procedure is another matter. For two days I had intense muscle tension pain and especially pain when swallowing. Within two days that has subsided somewhat. At the moment issues are: swelling of the incision which has me a bit worried; muscle pain and the desire to really give my neck muscles a good stretch which I will not do of course; and a general discomfort with the position of my head and neck when I sleep. Apparently my head is now screwed on at a slightly different angle. So I’m getting used to that.
Someone in the forums made a comment a few months back about how the insurance companies want people to believe that they are not covering this procedure when in fact they are. For over a year I did not submit a request to my insurance, UHC, since I assumed it would be rejected based on the feedback I got. Since my insurance was about to expire and I was switching to a different company I figured why not submit a preapproval request for something “crazy” like a three-level procedure. I wasn’t even waiting for their response when the Dr’s office called to say they had approved the whole thing. The rest is history.
I have amassed a pretty good amount of information about procedures, Doctors, etc. If anyone is interested in this or anything else I can do to help please let me know.

Thank you all so very much for your support. This forum is invaluable.

Frank

Way to go Frank. Sounds like you are on the fast track for recovery. It's amazing how fast people can bounce back from the cervical surgeries. Great news about your insurance coverage too!

All the best,

Mark

Frank,

Double the good news- a seemingly great surgical outcome and insurance coverage:D:D

Take it slow and keep us posted.

Dale

thanks
 

For the update Frank! It's good to hear that everything went smoothly and you're on the road to recovery! Also really great news about the insurance part! Wonderful news in fact! Take care and recover well~ even if your head is screwed on differently! ;)