6 week surgical follow-up

6 week follow up went great! As you can see, the disc is sitting in there just perfectly and when I flex or extend my neck it behaves exactly as an organic disc would. And just look how perfect the other discs are! It's a beautiful sight to me. This is the last section of my spine that's not fused.

The knots, or adhesions, in my shoulder area remain, leftover from when the nerves were causing muscle spasms constantly. I bought some tennis balls and am rolling around on them trying to work the knots out, also doing lots of stretching in that area. Dr. Spivak was impressed with the range of motion that I've already been able to acheive, movement that was impossible or impossible without pain before. No more pain going down my arms, yay!

I've got an appointment with their pain management specialist for a shot or two next month, as I'm more concerned with the pain in my legs coming from my lower back than I am about the neck.

Saturday's Acupuncture Appointment

I had my acupuncture appointment on Saturday. They didn't do the trigger point releases, and I was really disappointed. What they did do was check out my arms, specifically my left one where I'd had the "tennis elbow" surgery, and put needles in there. I don't know if it was anything they did, but the pain in my thoracic region was worse and I had pain running down my arm all weekend.
The pain in the arm went away, and I'm wondering if it was just something that they released that was working itself out or what. I don't have appointments for the next two weeks as the students are graduating, then I go back in early May and I really hope that they bring back the Pain Clinic then or that I have no need for by then!