What’s life been like post surgery for you? Obviously everyone’s experience is different but it sounds like you feel that surgery might have left you worse than before?
I won't speak for anyone but myself, but my surgery changed my life for the better.
I was pretty hard on my body between hockey, dirt bikes and Muay Thai. I broke my lower back and neck in my late teens. By the time I got to my 30's I was in pretty rough shape, but was in the middle of starting a company and had no time to look after it. As a side note, don't do this! Get it looked after, your body will thank you. It will not get better on it's own, I promise you. By the time I hit 40 I was medicating with pills and alcohol to get through the day. At 43, I woke up one morning and couldn't get out of bed because my lower back pain was so bad.
Had to call a friend over to get me to the hospital. A couple MRI's later and within 36 hours I was under the knife. Went in at 07:00 and was all wrapped up by 13:00. They fused L2/3/4 using a new technique developed by a guy here in Houston. All done with robots. That night at 20:00, my PT guy came in and told me we were going for a walk. I called him crazy. But we went for a walk. It was painful getting out of the bed, but once I was upright, it was truly an amazing experience. Won't lie, I had a bit of a break down. Was the first time in 20 years that I wasn't in pain. Fast forward 7 years and I'm still going strong. I was back to a normal life in three weeks. In the gym, back running. It does give me some grief every now and then, but I would do the surgery over again 100/100 times.
Noooooowwwwwwwww.........4 years ago I had C4/5/6 fused. That was a completely different story. I'm not sure I'd do that one again. No, I would. It's just the recovery that was hell. They go through the front (face) to do that surgery. Lot's of cutting. Lots of recovery time. Am I better off having both surgeries, absolutely. But I know people who have had much different results.
I do know that if Eich was to have the same cervical surgery as I did, he won't be playing next season. It took me 6 months to get to a point where I felt somewhat normal. Of course, he's young, rich, and in peak condition.......anything is possible.