Jim,
last year, at age 72, I underwent cervical spine surgery. It sounds terrible but In fact was not bad at all. There was no pain - ever - and probably 95 percent of the symptoms are gone. They fused 3 vertebra in my neck. I had numbness and tingling from my elbows down to my finger tips 24/7 and was beginning to lose the ability to do fine tasks with my hands like simply picking up coins. The surgery fixed all that.

If I were in your shoes I would get a second and third if needed opinion. ALL of the doctors I saw said exactly the same thing. With cervical spine issues it is not advised to wait very long before correcting them. The reason being is nerves are being damaged, that if left to long, may NEVER heal themselves even after surgery. The result of this might and could be symptoms that never go away.

By the way, the cortisone shots help in many cases. In my case they did not. I now am dealing with lumbar spine issues and about 8 months ago I got 4 shots 2 in each side of my spine in the lumbar area and that has nearly solved the day-to-day pain issues. By the way, I did them without the anathesia and it all was just fine. Only problem is the shots don't cure anything - just put off the inevitable.

Anyway, thought I would add my experience to your thread. I would do it all over again if necessary and probably will have to.

Deane