Cervical discectomy - operation length and recovery time?

Nothing is more frustrating than having yourself mentally prepared and have the doctor back out cause he's going skiing for the holidays. But it's possible its a good thing and when they see you they wont be thinking about skiing in Switzerland instead of your procedure.

I'm (as a layman familiar with spine issues- I got plenty) that they want to go in and do this to your entire cervical spine. Can every one of them be trapping a nerve, causing your pain? We in the US haven't gotten a good taste of socialized medicine, so I don't know what second opinions are about in the UK but I'd try to get one or more before you let these guys loose with sharp objects. There are ways to eliminate all but the problem level which they can go to work on. It's very hard to say what recovery time will be or how long the procedure will last. Ask if they are going to do this arthroscopically (little incisions often approached from the side) from the front or from the rear. It could be a combination of techniques but find out what technique and approaches they plan on using.

I know you are in a hurry to get out of pain but how long did you have to consider this procedure. I have a sense that things were cobbled together rather quickly without giving you adequate time to consider possibilities and form questions that you should have the answers to. The anesthesia team is going to be of no help answering any of these questions. They just want to know all about your health issues that may affect how easy or difficult it will be to keep you knocked out for the duration. Wait till the surgeons are back from their holiday before you reschedule the procedure and get some answers. And if they lay some bull shite on you about how its an emergency and imperative they get in there now and get to work, tell them it would have been nice to know that, you would have found a dedicated surgical team to do it while they were skiing Switzerland or sunning themselves in Greece. Get another opinion and if you are mad enough report them to the health services. Make sure you have washed your hands of them completely first. You don't leave a patient of any kind hanging in limbo while their anxiety level explodes. Bad doctoring

Had mine done burning down both arm stopped over night. Still have the numb feeling in hands and week arm strength and grip strength in both hands. Hope this will get better over the next few weeks or months