I am 43 and had a cervical disc replacement at C6/7 for right arm pain 12 days ago. I had this done in Exeter. I had an overnight stay and woke up with no pain at all in my arm (great relief after 4 weeks of awful nerve pain despite being completely drugged out !!)
My disc has been replaced with an artificial mobile disc rather than with an attempted fusion using bone graft, carbon cage and metal plates and have therefore had no restriction put on movements apart from avoiding excessive neck extension.
I'm sure it is normal to have a feeling that you have a golf ball stuck in your throat while swallowing due to the expected swelling which will occur around the surgery site and the fact that the surgeons will have been slightly pushing your oesophagus sideways to get access to the front of your throat. Bleeding occurring after the surgery will have no where to escape and will add to the swelling and that feeling in the throat that I suspect we have all had. Luckily, mine seems to get less noticeable each day.
Not having had any pain in my neck itself pre-op meant that i was prepared for my neck to be more uncomfortable than it had been after surgery, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how little discomfort and stiffness I have had. I stopped all my painkillers 1 week post surgery and have stared going back to exercise - have managed a leisurely 5 mile run and have been knocking tennis balls around with my kids.
I'm going to get back to cycling on a turbo trainer this week but will stay off the roads until at least 4 weeks post surgery in case of an accident. (I managed to get this disc prolapse 6 weeks after a high speed crash on my bicycle while competing at the UK 1/2 Ironman race in June and my wife wouldn't forgive me if I had another accident and did my neck again!)
With a bone graft replacement or a carbon cage replacement, the intention is that the bony vertebra above and below the removed disc will fuse together through the carbon cage or bone graft and this is actually unlikely to ever actually occur before about 3 months. That's why they are usually held with a plate and screws as well as the cage with bone graft - the plate hold everything still while the bone heals. Without a plate in place, i suspect there would be some movement in the bone graft or between the cage and the bony vertebra and this may delay or even stop the fusion occurring.
Anyway, I hope this info is helpful.
I am by the way a Consultant orthopaedic surgeon myself - but I don't do any spinal surgery and have been a relatively passive patient and listened to what my expert colleague has had to say about the various techniques available. I very rarely operate much above the pelvis and do mainly hip surgery.
Bensdad
