Neck surgery after my accident — scared, exhausted, and only 31. Anyone been through this?
Long post, sorry in advance. I'll try to keep it organized.
About eight months ago I got rear-ended pretty hard on the highway by someone who was looking at their phone. Seemed like a normal fender-bender at first — I drove home, thought I was fine. Two weeks later I could barely turn my head and the tingling in my right arm was constant.
Fast forward through two rounds of physical therapy, an epidural injection that helped maybe 20%, and a second opinion from a spine specialist — and now I'm sitting here with a referral for a cervical disc replacement. My doctor says the disc is basically collapsed and pressing on a nerve root, and at this point conservative treatment has run its course.
I'm 31. When I tell people that, they look at me like I said something tragic. And honestly it feels tragic? But I also can't keep living like this. I dropped a full mug of coffee last week because my grip just gave out. I had to leave my nephew's birthday party early because sitting in a regular chair for two hours wrecked me.
The surgeon is talking about a same-day or one-night procedure, but then months of recovery and restrictions before I'm "cleared" for anything normal.
I guess I just want to hear from people who have actually been through spinal surgery after an accident. Did you end up glad you did it? Did the recovery feel as long as it sounds? How do you handle the guilt of needing so much help from people around you?
I feel like the accident already stole a year of my life and now it's asking for more. Just really struggling with the decision mentally even though physically I think I already know what I have to do.