Chronic right off the bat, is it worth it to get the fusion?

Stay away from all fatty, fried foods. If you can go vegetarian, it will help. If you have to eat meat, make sure it is very lean chicken/seafood. Take pancreatic enzymes to keep your pancreas from having to work so much. Always take them 20-30 mins. before you eat, even snacks. For the cervical & lumbar pain, I've had success with Fentanyl patches. They give a constant level of pain med & keep me moving. I did have a cervical fusion, but it just resulted in the disc above & below the fusion collapsing & bulging to herniating. Not sure I would recommend unless it becomes a matter of not being able to use your arms or legs. That was the case when I had the cervical fusion. Could not use my left arm. That did improve. We seem to have similar hx, even age. Even though chronic pancreatitis never goes away, you can manage it. There are still times it flares without me seeing a real cause but not near like it did during the first few years with it. I have the chronic pain that stabs through to the back but other than that, most of the time, I can keep from going into full blown pancreatitis. Just don't drink alcohol or eat foods that are going to require the pancreas to switch into overdrive. Ham or pork of any kind and super high fatty things like pecan pie are on my list of Nevers.