Posted 8/20/08
The Day My Neck Stood Still
On August 13, 2008 at 1:12 pm, my neurosurgeon decided that I could begin to wean my way out of wearing a full time neck brace. Six weeks and two days after having two levels of cervical fusion surgery his evaluation of my X-rays was “as positive as anyone could hope.” I’ve still got some tingling in my right arm from time to time but I’m told it will disappear within the year.
As long as I can remember, I’ve woken up with numbness in my right arm. I always had assumed it was cheap beer, a cheap bed, or crappy sleeping style, but two or three years ago, the numbness turned into weakening and mild pain on long drives. After a few MRIs I was diagnosed with multiple cervical stenosis and degenerative disk disease. Which is a fancy way of saying the disks in my neck were falling apart, and some of them were leaning on my spinal cord, Avon Barksdale style.
A lot of things made a lot more sense after that. If I would sneeze too hard, my right arm would seize into pain. Now I knew why. The sleeping numbness made sense now. But the discomfort was transient and the pain a 2 out of 10 at its worst, so I decided to try a combination of pharmaceuticals as needed and physical therapy to straighten things out.
For about two years this seemed to help out enough that we were able to get through our first son’s birth without any major problems. But in May of 2008, after pumping up an inflatable pool for my now 2-year-old, I woke up repeatedly with the most excruciating arm (and now neck) pain I can say I’ve ever felt.
Today my surgeon laughed at me when I expressed concern about neck strength after being in a brace for such a long period of time. “Neck strength?!” he asked in his intimidating but surprisingly affable German accent. “Neck strength is the LAST thing I’m worried about.” Given the titanium bracket in my neck, this makes more than a modicum of sense.
Hoping I get stronger, faster, better. Also sexier and more not stupider in smarts.