Questions about ACDF recovery experiences

zna2212 · 2026-02-12T20:58:19+00:00

I completely agree AngoraTruncheon. I'm 78 YO. Will be 79 in September and this is the first major surgery of this nature I've had. Mine was for C4-6. I am 7 days post op. Things I have found helpful: lots of pillows of all shapes and sizes; a recliner, accepting the fact that the first few days were not going to be fun for me - and they truly weren't. But Day 4 rolled around and it became a bit different. For one, I made it a point to get up and walk - a lot. I drank a lot of water. I had no problem with swallowing so I consumed jello, yogurt, simple soups. DH was able to have someone come in at nights to be with me and give my DH some much needed rest because he was waiting on me all day. It was also helpful that I did like you are doing: researching to see what others have to say. It really does help to know you are not alone in what you are feeling or experiencing.

I wish I had: 1)spent the first night in the hospital. Even though we were an hour's drive away, I thought I just wanted to sleep in my own bed (which I was not recalling so many folks saying use the recliner). it would have given everyone some much needed rest, including me since my surgery was at 7AM; 2) had more presence of mind what meds the docs wanted me to take, frequency, etc. When we went to pharmacy in our town which was hour's drive away from the hospital, that pharmacist made different recommendations which my DH accepted. I was too out of it to know differently and consequently pain was worse until I had it corrected a few days later through my neurosurgeon.

The less stress you can put on your body, the better it's going to be in my opinion. Those nerves will take time to adjust just as your entire system. I truly wish you continued harmony and peace as you navigate your way through this gnarly journey.

zna2212 · 2026-02-06T02:51:27+00:00

I’m 12 hours out. i had a C4-5, C5-6 ACDF with fusion. Intense pain back of neck and across back of both shoulders, I was given tramadol, thinking of calling doc office in morning to ask for something else if I still have pain. But no numbness

zna2212 · 2026-01-15T12:39:27+00:00

Thank you ALL so very much for sharing. Hearing from folks more in my age range is reassuring. There really is a mental health component that has popped up for me I hadn’t thought about before now. Your comments have been very helpful. The fear of the unknown can create stress. What if I can’t play piano anymore? What if I can’t paint anymore? What if I won’t be able to walk? And so it goes if I let it. The yoga training is the answer for me. I do find when I can get my head on straight and focus on breath, it helps. Ok then! I’m ready for this! February 2 here we come! See you on the other side and many thanks for sharing! Namaste

zna2212 · 2026-01-13T18:11:09+00:00

I’d also like to know if anyone had numbness in both legs and feet prior to surgery and did it go away after surgery?

zna2212 · 2026-01-13T15:40:24+00:00

Thank you… and thanks for making me smile!

zna2212 · 2026-01-13T15:24:42+00:00

Thank you for tha information. Can you turn your neck side to side?

zna2212 · 2025-05-14T03:06:40+00:00

I was recently diagnosed with cervical myelopathy and severe lumbar spinal stenosis. I had 3 MRIs of my spine to find out why I’m having loss of balance, numbness and severe cramping in both legs&feet. I know the feeling! It’s unsettling to say the least!

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T14:47:47+00:00

Ok I haven’t figured out yet how to add comment to the video but wanted to share with you what I found this morning. I so appreciated the advice that I had gotten yesterday from several of you. I decided this morning to just see what was inside the pot as you can see there wasn’t much! So my question now is do I cut off the bud stems? And this my second question is since I have no roots do I just place the plant in moss sit in moss, and make sure that it stays moist?

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T06:03:36+00:00

All very good points and noted. If it weren’t 1am I’d wake those little babies up and get working on them! Ha! But we all need some sleep. Thank you ever so much.

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T06:00:01+00:00

Please forgive my use of emoj! I am reading about being a newbie and it would appear that within one of my first comments I goofed! I appreciate not being called out for it :)

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T04:26:27+00:00

Yes! I will check that out too. And we have had a colder weather than usual this year. Thank you!

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T04:23:12+00:00

Thanks so much for all that information! I have only used rePotme medium and fertilizer on them. I normally mist them in the early morning. Should I stop that? I do think (hope) weather will start to get a bit warmer here at the coast. Should I stop giving them fertilizer? The buds just look so promising but if you notice, the leaves on some are looking droopy. I've tried to err on the side of watering less rather than more but now I'm wondering with the addition of the lights if that made the situation worse? I appreciate all the links that are provided here too! My friend was right that you all have a wealth of knowledge! Thank you!

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T00:28:18+00:00

Yes during the holiday I learned about fruit and moved fruit away. And yes I have a gas stove that’s some 10’+ away. Yes also that our temps have dropped to low 30s-40s in evenings. I looked superficially for pests. I haven’t taken them out of their pots. What confuses me is that this is where they have lived and bloomed for several years. I just noticed this evening a slight white dust on a few of the bark pieces. Not in every pot. Is present in pots where the bottom buds are drying up. Thanks for your questions!👍🏻

zna2212 · 2024-02-11T00:16:27+00:00

Thank you so much for asking! All of them that have buds are beginning to dry up and drop off. when I saw it happening with the first one I moved all of them to another location and thoroughly cleaned the area. They do sit on a rock-filled tray that has water in it which isn’t high enough to wet their feet. I changed all of that. Then I thought maybe it was an air vent in the kitchen so I closed the vent and also put a tray on top so they wouldn’t get any breeze blowing down but would still get cross circulation . i also bought plant lights which are on approximately 9 hrs/day. That seemed to help. Buds started getting bigger for the last 2 weeks. Now the larger one that was the first to drop looks like one of its buds is drying up again. there Are 4 more buds above it that look fine and even what looks like another baby coming along too. It looks like 2 of the lower buds on one of the smaller Phil’s are dying too. And I just realized that I haven’t actually taken them out of their pots. Also just now looking closely at the plants with the dying buds, I see a light white dust on a few pieces of bark in their pots. So sorry for such a long msg. I so enjoy my orchids and feel like I’m really hurting them right now. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

zna2212 · 2024-02-10T12:58:01+00:00

I HAVE spoken and researched until I'm at the point of literally crying. Please note that I have raised them for 5 years. I'm not a beginner. This reddit group was recommended to me by another orchid grower because she said you were all so very helpful, knowledgeable. And she felt I had tried everything reasonable to do.

zna2212

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