So okay, I work with the surgeons who do this stuff, I'm right there in the OR as they are performing it, hearing their comments, the real truth type of stuff... First off, the doctor is correct in telling you that there really is no way to know for sure how much mobility you will have after this. Every person on the planet is built different, have different amounts of harm done in very delicate tissue and will put in different amounts of effort afterwards to achieve mobility. If you were a slug before, you will no doubt have crappy results. If you are someone who jumps in there to get the job done, you will have better results. It is up to the patient as much as the surgeon on this stuff.
The biggest difference is the amount of pain you will no longer have. It is meant to stabilize an unstable environment and prevent, as much as possible, more damage. It isn't meant to make you brand new again. There is no way to repair what is damaged but it can be cleaned up, made stable and you definitely should have a better life over all afterwards. If they can't guarantee
that part, you walk away. You need to assess how you feel now, what you go through on a daily basis, what amount of progress would be enough to get you back to work or whatever you are missing out on. That is how you judge these types of surgeries. Steve Austin is only on tv. It ain't happenin, dear. I wish it could but that's life. There are some really delicate things in there and they use a big microscope, they have wires all over you to test your nerve responses to make sure they aren't bumping or hurting things, they have someone like me in there too, to take pictures at any angle needed to make sure they are doing a good job. There is such a thing as bolt cutters, torque wrenches and all of that crap in the OR. They use pneumatic drills with grinding tips and shave off bone, edges, dig out discs with little sharp edged scoop type of instruments. They do all of this without harming all of the stuff around it. Your spine actually kinda deep behind your esophagus, trachea, ...
I would say, after x-raying these patients before and after, 95% of them are glad they did it. What happened with the other 5%? Those are the whiney slugs who expect that if they have the surgery, everything instantly would be okay and they wouldn't have to put forth any effort to get it like that. They don't do their physical therapy, they don't take their meds to help it all relax so it can heal, they just b!tch, b!tch, b!tch.
I see you as the guy who will do what it takes to get the results. It all depends if they go in through the front and give you a plate or if they also go in from behind and give you rods. It all depends too on if they just fuse you or if they take out any pinched discs, smooth out your vertebral body surface and put in a spacer, which they tend to do on the plate one. (called an anterior cervical disc fusion if you want to look it up) Overall, you
should be able to tilt your head down and back, but it will be stiff feeling. You
should be able to turn your head side to side, but it will have a limit. Those are metal rods/plates locked into screws that go into your spinal body. They don't give. What gives is the vertebrae next to the ones that get fused. If you abuse the work they do, you will be back in to get a longer fuse because you will damage the surrounding bodies and discs.
My biggest advice is... if you feel this guy doesn't have enough experience, go to a university hospital. They do the most intricate and best work usually. They do 10x what the others do and typically have a better outcome.
Oh, btw, if it makes a difference, the fusion would be metric, just like your bike.
Good luck in your decision, but I know if it were me, I'd do it. It means no more massive pain which in itself will change your life for the better. I wish that for you very much. Take care.
~MX
