By your report, you have significant degenerative disc disease at C5-6 (“it is a grade 1 spondylolisthesis”). I assume cord compression (“C5/6 is abutting the spine”) as well as foraminal stenosis (“2 EMG reports that neck,shoulder, arm, hand pain all coming from cervical C5/6 and irritating from C7”).
Make sure that the C7 nerve is not involved as surgery at C5-6 will only help the C6 nerve and not decompress the C7 nerve.
Addison’s disease does make the recovery from surgery more difficult. You will need significantly more steroids for the immediate postoperative period and then taper back to your normal doses over time. Make sure your surgeon understands the significance of these steroids to your health and recovery. You should not have to be placed in the position of demanding therapeutic doses of these medications.
Dr. Corenman