Cervical Herniated Disc Story

After almost 3 months of this, we finally got an MRI. What was thought to be arthritis was actually a herniated disc c5-c6. I then went to a neurosurgeon who suggested surgery. He prescribed a Medrol pack and Percocet (yeah, much relief). I believe the surgery was a microdiscectomy from my memory, but not positive. I planned the surgery for mid May of 2004 and treated the neck area with ice and took Tylenol. Within a week I experienced almost complete relief of pain, numbness and weakness. I cancelled the surgery.

In the past 6 years I had 3 full term pregnancies and no recurrence of the issues. I've had small bouts of pain, but nothing that isn't usually cured with ice and Tylenol until a few months ago. We've had 4ft of snow this winter and stupidly, I shoveled a lot of it. That coupled with a lot of stress and my neck pain came back in a bad way. I also know that I'm connecting the dots, that I've been experiencing some balance, grip and gait problems for some months. The main issue I have is cycling arm pain (both, mainly right), loss of grip, leg weakness (both, mainly right) and overall weakness causing movement problems. I have stronger days than others.

I had two days in bed due to lower back spasms (sort of a new symptom). During the past few weeks I've done a steroid pack, started physical therapy , had cervical and lumbar MRIs and saw the neurosurgeon again. I still don't know exactly what the radiology report says, but the neuro "strongly" suggests a discectomy with fusion surgery. I just got off the phone with the primary's office and they spoke to me about paralysis. So, I'm a little freaked.

The main issue I have,though, is that I'm not in a tremendous amount of pain. It is mostly discomfort and tingling and in my mind, it is evolving forward. I don't have total feeling back and throughout the day the sensations change, but I feel that I may get back to what I had over the past 6 years of relative pain-free/sensation-free living.

I really support internet patient forums and want to thank you in advance. I participate in a fertility support group and have done so for almost 8 years. Your page reminds me of this. If it were not for finding patients like myself when I was trying to conceive my children, they would not be here. If I listened to the medical specialists, I would have had unnecessary, costly surgery, been pumped full of dangerous fertility drugs and statistically had very little success. Instead, I took a mind-body-spirit approach and conceived all 3 naturally. This spine surgery advice and techniques I am receiving from the medical community seem incredibly similar. I don't want to cut and bolt metal to my body if it is not absolutely beneficial. Am I being naïve? If this disc herniation hitting my spinal cord, is it dangerous? Is this surgery critical? Any advice would be appreciated. - Missy