5 Months post-fusion: 5 star review

I don't care if its too soon for a New Year's Resolution.  I've got one and it is to conquer 2013 without surgery. It's been five months already and I feel like I'm about at my recovery plateau.  I'm sure some of it is due to my simply adapting to how things are with this new neck, but I forget sometimes it even happened.

The good: Neck movement in all directions is so good I can do everything as before.   Sleep is comfortable again, albeit with a neck pillow.  No recurrence of arm pain and my strength feels equal again.  Because it was my dominant arm, I use it all the time which has helped.  I still haven't gone back to the pain meds since stopping at about week 3.  I'm standing up for more than half the day at work which means much better posture and no neck issues even after staring at the computer for 10 hours.

The so-so: I notice the numbness in my thumb once a week or so but its very slight.  Some days I have stiffness in the back of my neck which I can forget if I'm working or occupied.  My scar is still darkened and visible and occasionally itches.  My jaw above is still the tiniest bit desensitized but it feels like the nerves are slowly coming back.

The rest: Not being able to jog has thrown my exercise schedule off and I am less active than before.  Partly this is due to changes at work but also needing more time to walk vs. run.  Still trying to settle back into a new workout schedule but so far, laziness is winning.

Also having fun meeting all my scar twins - who knew a visible neck scar would be such a great way to meet people?  All you singles suffering in pain, one more perq!