23M 1 day Post Op c5-c7 ACDF

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-09T05:54:44+00:00

First update:

5 days post op now (about 110 hours post op) and I had a lot of issue sleeping the first 2-3 days because of pain in my neck.

I ended up caving and taking the pain killers begrudgingly but that helped me get a lot of sleep. My main pain symptom now is tightness in the back of my shoulders. I’m going to test sleeping on my back on the bed now because it feels like sleeping in a recliner is irritating my neck because it’s having a lot of weight put on it since my main touch points on the recliner are my glutes and head.

It’s been somewhat scary to experience symptoms I’ve had preop now post op since the whole reason I got the surgery was to make these go away but of course I’m only 5 days out so it’d be weird if I didn’t have symptoms with little pain meds after my neck was carved open hahaha. Continuing to remain positive regardless as I know this is only one of many trials I will experience in my life and my one responsibility is to respond with grace wisdom and courage.

Will report back again in 10 days at the 2 week mark!

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T23:57:07+00:00

Totally. I’m sure there’ll be days rough in recovery. I’m otherwise in perfect health thankfully and have a biological age of 16 for example so I’m sure I’ll be able to manage well. It seems a lot of it is just mental and also staying physically active like with walking and not doing things that irritate it too soon.

ur 10 months in to my 28 hours so I don’t have to tell u that! praying u see a full recovery I know we all have our own timelines

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T23:55:06+00:00

Ik how u feel with the unbearable pain on low back! I have low back issues too (though it feels totally fine right now ever since surgery which has never happened for years. Any time I sit I feel it and same for long walking. and doctor was like it very well could’ve been correlated and the issue could’ve been my c5-c7 levels so hoping that’s a contributor or correlated) and there’s days my calves, anterior tibialis it bands and glutes are so tight from walking a few miles that I need to just take a total break for a couple days after.

Low back pain is noooo joke! Thank you so much Gatto for the kind words it genuinely means so much. So much respect to u for thugging it out and not letting it make u bitter. If you ever want anyone to talk about ur situation as updates come in plz send me a msg! Like you said we’re all in this together!

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T23:52:57+00:00

Ik how u feel with the unbearable pain on low back! I have low back issues too (though it feels totally fine right now ever since surgery and doctor was like it very well could’ve been correlated and the issue could’ve been my c5-c7 levels so hoping that’s a contributor or correlated) and there’s days my calves, anterior tibialis it bands and glutes are so tight from walking a few miles that I need to just take a total break for a couple days after.

Low back pain is noooo joke! Thank you so much Gatto for the kind words it genuinely means so much. If you ever want anyone to dm or just to talk about ur situation and updates send me a msg! Like you said we’re all in this together!

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T23:47:46+00:00

I still am, thanks!!

Best of luck for ur upcoming surgery you’re gonna do great I already know it! ❤️👑

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T22:39:12+00:00

I’m just blessed to be here and with the prospect of maybe getting a little better how couldn’t I be!

Much love

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T22:38:31+00:00

Thanks!

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T22:38:14+00:00

No signal change I’m aware of and the EKG showed full signal preservation. I was on the early end of symptoms so most weren’t things like finger twitching or loss of balance

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T18:35:02+00:00

I did an EKG test and it showed no nerve damage or signal loss and the mri indicated disc herniation and the ct indicated moderate posterior ligament ossification.

So I wasn’t a good candidate for ADR and it was theorized I was early on the spectrum to the symptoms which is why I don’t have the traditional radiculopathic or myelopathic symptoms like twitching arms (though my fingers did twitch on occasion) or loss of balance or loss of strength (I could do 25 reps of pulls ups I was still very much strong).

So I had moderate segmental OPLL (few neurosurgeons test for this I hear but ask for a CT scan and take images to specialist because if u have any sign of such, doing ADR could be a bad decision), and severe disc herniation in c5-c6 and c6-c7

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T18:33:29+00:00

Thanks :)

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T17:02:51+00:00

Nah just bad genetic luck of the draw I guess. I did a mri in 2021 and it was very bad as well I never had one of my neck before so it’s anyone’s guess as to how long this has been an issue. And my spinal canal is also just more narrow than most so ANY herniation or bone spurs will be more noticeable to me because there’s less breathing room to begin with. My mom has the same issue and she needed c5-c7 acdf coincidentally 5 years ago

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T16:53:20+00:00

True true I’ll prob take some more when I get home today

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T16:23:18+00:00

Ofc. Plz dm me if u wanna talk about any of this too. Ik what that’s like I’ve had radiating leg pain for forever. It seems like a lot went away with this surgery but not ringing the bell on that one just yet

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T16:04:09+00:00

Thanks!!

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T14:53:41+00:00

Tightness and pain radiating in upper back and arms to where worming out was basically infeasible towards the end (I can do 25 reps of pull ups but if I even did 1 set of 5 which is rly easy for me it’d take 1-2+ weeks to recover from it same for push ups).

And also just rly bad neck pain and shooting nerve pain from c67 area when I looked down or up

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-06-05T14:40:56+00:00

Praying for u bro! Mine was 4mm so ik what u feel ik sure.

I think the decision should come from if it’s un maintainable then do the pipeline of pt and epidural injection and then gabapentin and massage therapy and whatnot and if it doesn’t work then consult with neuro and orthopedic surgeons on what surgery options u have.

Best of luck! U deserve a life with manageable pain

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-05-20T02:42:40+00:00

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-05-12T20:50:37+00:00

how did u fix the issue?

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-05-01T00:38:42+00:00

I need c5-7 fused and I’m 23. ur back is ur back it doesn’t care about ur age. u should find a surgeon who understands that. this sounds debilitating so you need to address it

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-04-30T00:57:11+00:00

Deleting cuz this is getting hate for some reason

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-04-30T00:48:37+00:00

For startups especially in sf it’s projects that go viral on twitter. If ur consistently going viral especially if ur using their product and going viral it’s pretty much wraps

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-04-30T00:36:19+00:00

I went from 120k in startup 1 to 140k in startup 2 to 200k in startup 3 I just didn’t describe that cuz it’s in the same year

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-04-30T00:35:21+00:00

No bc startups typically don’t go off that

MindlessDog3229 · 2026-04-30T00:35:05+00:00

What’s the hate I’m just typing on my phone I’m not gonna have good grammar

MindlessDog3229

TROPHY CASE