jodawa50

Hi Mary, Whats a Miami J?
Wore a soft collar for three months after ACDF C6-7 w/my hip bone in 85, a dowel and plug method with great results,(back to work w/light duties in a week) to find I was only supposed to wear it for 6 weeks. Got 14 good years out of that surgery(5-6 was gone too, but he left it there).
Wore an aspen collar for six weeks + (still put it on for an hour a day to remind me the position I'm supposed to be in) after ACDF, C5-6 w/hardware in 2000. I'm a hurting unit at the moment and in my opinion if you are prone to bad posture, the longer you wear the collar the better(within reason of course). A good Dr would make you wear it until there's proof of bone growth unless hardware was involved. It only takes a mm (fraction of an inch) of being out of place when it comes to the spine, in order to cause a problem. You do not want problems, thier bad. I've seen in writing that you are 5% disabled for every disc they remove, so enjoy the recovery period, slow down, relax, and for Gods sake heal straight. I can't enficize how important it is, in order to stay away from a life of pain. Join the gimps, as we all gotta slow down eventually, and when we get there we'll be better at it than everybody else. Hope this helps some. Take care.