I am sorry to hear about your difficulties following your initial surgery. I wanted to drop you a quick note about my experience with permanent nerve damage. I progressively lost the fine motor function in my right hand (over a year) and because there was no pain I never went and had it evaluated. My handwriting became more difficult to read and I found I had more and more trouble gripping the pen. I woke one morning in terrible back pain. Long story short, I had C5-C6 successfully fused a short time later. I had nerve compression for some time but had no clue. I have permanently lost fine motor function in my dominant hand in spite of all the exercises and therapy since. I have had to learn to write with my left hand. I do not have pain, but I do have muscle weakness.
I am very lucky in that I have a high pain tolerance. The neurologist and the orthopedist both think the extended pressure on the cord caused the damage and it will be permanent. We all hoped for the best but it just did not come back (surgery 6 months ago). I am now scheduled for a second repair C6-C7, L5-S1. Although I have minimal discomfort, the MRIs show cord compression at both sites. I have to be proactive this time to avoid any additional motor loss. I have learned the hard way that compressed nerves that go untreated can have a bad outcome-in my case anyway.
Good luck with your treatment plan!
Lynda
Hi Mike,
Where are you located?
I've had two bone fusions, the first at C5-C6 back in 05, and then C4-C5 this past November.
What kind of surgeries did you have? With mine, I had severe spinal stenosis, so I needed to the discs removed and bone fusions done. I've had two metal plates in my neck.
Not sure what you mean by a "recurrent" disc herniation ... they didn't remove the disc the first time? Or, did you have another disc rupture too?
KContheSeacoast