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You asked in my DDD thread what my current symptoms are and if I had another MRI or CT since surgery. Yes, I have had a MRI which revealed the following

C2-3 shows no disc herniation or stenosis

C3-4 shows a small central disc protrusion causing some central impression into the thecal sac. No contact upon the underlying cord by this process seen. The neural foramen appear patent

C4-5 shows some artifact from the plate and screws at the level of the C5 vertebral body. No focal herniation is seen. Small degree of bony hypertrophy posterior about the end plates of the vertebral bodies is present. The nerual foramen are patent.

C5-6 shows no definite disc herniation or significant central stenosis. Evaluation of neural foramen is limited due to artifact but no significant foraminal stenosis is seen.

C6-7 shows some mild artifact from the previous surgery. No focal disc herniations seen or significant central or foraminal stenosis appreciated.

C7-T1 shows no definite disc hernation. No central or faminal stenosis is seen. Aftifact from the screws in C7 are present.

Included on the sagittal images at T5-6 there is a central and to the right disc protrusion.

The symptoms I am having is neck pain on the lower right side and left arm pain.

After the above MRI my surgeon suggested some PT to build up the muscles in the neck. I have been doing PT for about 7 weeks now and have seen some improvement (no pain in right arm), left arm pain has subsided some but not gone away and neck pain seems to have stayed the same, if not gotten worse.

And to think I was out of pain before I hit my head on the ceiling in my bedroom. I tried to raise the roof by myself (LOL - actually I have a cape style house and just did not back up far enough). When I did this I got a stinger down my left arm which felt like it came out of my fingers which both went numb for a while.

My PT thought it was more of a shoulder injury but had that xrayed and every thing looks good there. Doctor felt it was an impinged nerve and wanted to refer me to a spine doctor (I have moved away from my original surgeon - 500 miles away). I decided I wanted to wait and see if PT worked first.

I am now back to wearing my brace (at the PT's suggestion) for a few hours a day to see if that helps. She thought maybe aggravating it at noon and not doing anything until 8 or 9 at night was not letting it heal properly. She used the cut on the knuckle theory to describe the neck aggravation.. I guess it makes sense to me so I am trying the hard collar whenever it starts to get aggravated at work.

Thanks for asking about my symptoms - reminder to everyone don't try to raise the roof of a house on your own - you will only pay for it later - especially if you have already had cervie surgery.