Dan's Neck Surgery

I am so grateful for all of your prayers on my behalf as I have gone through surgery and am now recovering. I want to try to tell the story with some medical detail for those of you who are interested, but bear with me if I misstate something. I think that I have gotten it correct though.

For the last 5-6 years, I have had chronic neck pain nagging me. I couldn't identify an event that had caused the pain so I passively thought that it must have been due to normal stress in life and was just part of life. However, a couple of months ago, my mom began experiencing severe neck pain that led to Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF)--see the picture above where the vertebrae are fused together by a plate to reduce the pressure that a failing disc cannot relieve. The procedure went very well for her. She is still recovering, but her pain has been reduced significantly.

In light of my chronic pain and both my mom and her brother's neck issues, we decided that I should get an MRI which revealed a severe deterioration of the disc between my 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. After counsel with my dad and a long-time friend from church who is a neurosurgeon, I elected to have the same procedure that my mom had.

So, last Wednesday, I had the surgery. I am still amazed that I only spent about 6 hours at the hospital! Just incredible! Anyway, we stayed in Jeff City for a couple of days then came back to St. Louis. You can tell from the picture that I am sleeping a lot. I have already begun to cut back on the pain medication which is something that makes me glad.

My mom is 6+ weeks post-op now and she is still recovering so I anticipate that I will be on a somewhat similar schedule in terms of recovery. The 10 pound lifting limit proves very challenging all the time, but I am trying to be compliant. The picture with Mackenzie was during a short portion of her birthday when I was actually out of bed. I wasn't much fun that day, I must confess!

Again, I simply can't say thanks enough for the prayers, encouragement and practical help that so many of you have extended to me and the family. Thanks so much!