[Auric]

#4997

A quick follow-up.

I am two weeks out of surgery on C6/C7, using a Peek Cage without plating. The symptoms that lead to the operation (middle fingers’ numbness, arm, back, and upper shoulder pain on the right side) are essentially gone. It was a three hour operation, described as “tedious” by the surgeon, but full recovery is expected. There was virtually no sore throat and no hoarseness.

A question about a new post-op forearm numbness has been asked on a new thread.

[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#5002

Glad to hear you are better from the surgery. Please let us know here when you are back to full activities and how you did from the surgery. I answered the “numbness” question on your other thread. You can review that answer on the forum.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.
 
Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

[Auric]

#5059

One conspicuous issue with ACDF forums is the “abandoned thread.” I don’t want that to happen here. But I do understand patients’ desires to get on with life and leave all ACDF-related contact behind. I think (optimistically) that this accounts for the dearth of post-surgery posts.

Things are probably better for me than I realize. I’m still grieving the loss of time and resources to this unwelcome season. But all acute issues prompting my C6/C7 fusion have resolved, particularly the shoulder / levator scapula pain.

My right tricep fibrillates (as it did at times before the surgery). It quivers. It isn’t painful, just strange. I don’t know if it is the feeling of a muscle dying or coming back to life.

Left inner forearm numbness comes and goes. That discussion is on a different thread. I do understand that it’s behaving like an ulnar entrapment, a separate issue. But the coincidence of this issue on the heels of surgery is hard to overlook.

Things are best when I am in motion, standing, moving, lifting.

The doctor released me from the collar after about four weeks. (Recall that I did not have plating done.) He has ordered no X-rays. He feels that surgeons are too occupied with the creation of the perfect neck on film, irrespective of the patient’s actual healing. He says the restoring of foramen height is the vital issue.

He also doesn’t write physical therapy scripts unless the patient is not doing well, and he added, “They often come back worse because of PT.”

I frankly don’t know what to make of this approach. He is extremely phlegmatic on the matter, and after thirty-three years of surgery, he’s quite set in his ways. He comes in, does the hand/arm test perfunctorily, and tells me I’m well ahead of the curve. Then there is a puff of smoke. Gone.

I’m not complaining. But Dr. Corenman, if you could put this approach into a broader medical context, I’d appreciate it. How far outside the box is this hands-off, “let nature run its course” attitude?

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