A bit of this, a bit of that.

Well, finally the day came, and I went into hospital on Monday 13th at 7.15am.

Got changed into the Hospitals standard Operating gown, complete with Paper Underwear ( very sexy ).

Around 9.15, I was finally ushered of to the Operating theatres Holding room.

The best news I was given, was that the surgeon would not be using a bone graft from my hip to use as a replacement of the disk for fusion. When I had my last double fusion, I remember the hip being the most painful and also taking the longest time to heal. Instead, they would be using an artificial disc with cage implantation.

This image shows what it looks like when in place. Please note that this isnt my neck though ;)

The surgery took just under 4 hours, and I woke up in the recovery room with no pain or discomfort of any kind. After staying there for about an hour or so, I was moved onto the main ward.

Not long after moving onto the surgical ward, the anaesthetic had completely worn off, and the pain suddenly kicked in. As is usual these days, you are put on a machine that dispenses morphine as and when you want it. Surprisingly though, the dosage I was getting didn't come anywhere near close enough to giving any relief, and it had to be topped up with other drugs.


The first night on the ward was horrible. The Obs were done on the hour, every hour and as such I wasn't able to get any sleep at all.

The very next day, the staff were talking about how many new patients they had coming in, and how they had no bed spaces for them. Others on the ward also had surgery that same day for things such as Hip and Knee replacements. We were all told we would more than likeley be discharged the following day due to the bed shortfall.

At this point, I, along with a few other patients weren't even able to get out of bed, let alone walk about, so to be told wed be going home the next day seemed a little unrealistic.

On my 2nd night, a doctor came for a chat and listened to my chest. He sent me off for a chest xray, and said the results were " suspicious " and that I had managed to pick up a chest infection, a minor case of pneumonia, so was put on antibiotics straight away.

On the third day, I was told I was able to go home, which was great. Its so much better being in the comfort of your own home to recover, rather than having to listen to all the bells, beeps and alarms that go off in hospital, not to mention the "snoring".


The pain at the moment is unbearable at times, and is actually worse in my neck area than it was before the surgery. Also, as partly expected, My voice is pretty much gone. I can manage a few croaks and at times sound like one of the chipmunks :) I am hoping this will soon pass, though it has been mentioned that sometimes with this procedure, you never get your voice back properly. Fingers crossed on that one.

Im glad I had the surgery though, and the one thing that has gone, is the pain, tingling and numbness in my right arm and hand. I no longer have the burning sensation in my little and ring finger. Before the OP, this was something i had to endure 24 hours a day with no relief.

Will update again in a few days :)