Looks like your neck has some major problems. When they see severe canal stenosis, that means your cord has most likely been compressed way down to about half normal thickness...similar to what I had and even the same levels...C4,5,6 and 7. When they do the MRI, the radiologist will be able to actually measure the cord thickness and you'll get an idea of how bad it is.
The other major problem they see is that the nerves to the arms are also severely compressed at certain levels and that makes then liable to dying as well.
The laminoplasty is a new surgery that just might be what you need. It's what I had and what Webdozer recently had as well. Standard surgery involves going in from the front, pulling out the disks and the using plates and screws to and bone grafts to fuse the neck. In the laminoplasty they address what the true problem is...a narrow canal. they go in from the back, remove the spinous process of the vertebrae(that part that looks like a stegasaurus back) and the they open the spinal canal and remove the bones around the back of it. These bones are then put back in a different arrangement along with a bone graft and the effect is that it almost doubles the amount of room for the spinal cord. This allows the cord to expand and stay away from the bone spurs and disk material. And...NO FUSION. the do add a strip of titanium to allow for some extra strength while the bones all heal but that really doesn't affect you after surgery whereas a fusion makes your neck rock solid and really decreases the amount of head movement you have. With the number of vertebrae you have in trouble, you'd lose almost 50% of your head movement.
At the same time they are doing this surgery, they may be able to open the holes that are around the nerves to free up the nerves too.
So it accomplishes the same thing as the anterior neck fusion without having to fuse anything. The cord gets to expand fully and the nerves can be freed.
I went into surgery going numb form the neck down and came out with all numbness gone and recovered full function of my arms and leg. I had a laminoplasty done on C3 to C6 and a decompression of C7...they don't recommend a laminoplasty for C7. Webdozer has more info on why they don't do C7 than I have.
Who have you seen a HSS? I also went there for a consult but stayed with my doc in Boston as he had been doing laminoplasties even longer than the doc at HSS.
Hope this helps and I'm sorry you had to come here at all
hugs..............Jenny