Dr. Azam Basheer, M.D.

Brain is surgery is a "big deal" as I tell my patients. Physical recovery from the surgery tends to happen quicker than the mental recovery. It is normal to have some headaches and concentration trouble after surgery. This usually depends on the type and nature of cranial surgery you had, your age, and why you had the surgery.

Herniated discs are quite prevalent in the general population. Not every herniated disc requires surgery. Some disc herniate as the normal aging process takes place in our spines. Unless the herniated disc is compressing a nerve and given you significant pain, then it does not need to be addressed surgically. Additionally, many disc shrink and desiccate with time if left alone.

Awake cranial surgery requires the patient to be awake and aware during surgery. Usually patients are kept comfortable and sedated at the start of the case and adequate local anesthetic is injected in the scalp to numb the area where the incision is made.
Once the incision is made, bone is removed and the brain is exposed, the patient's sedation is lightened in order for the patient to communicate with the surgeon or speech therapist.
The patient is needed to be awake in surgeries that require working on parts of the brain that control speech and motor function. Therefore, the patient is usually awake as the surgeon stimulates and tests those areas before working on them. If stimulation of those areas results in speech arrest or paralysis (where patient is unable to talk during the surgery or move a limb), the surgeon would avoid those areas

Sciatica is an umbrella term that is used to describe any irritation to the sciatic nerve . The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body and it is made up of several individual nerve roots that branch out from the lumbar spine and then combine to form the sciatic nerve.
Sciatica symptoms which often cause pain that is often described as sharp, electric, throbbing or painful numbness, occur when the large sciatic nerve is irritated or compressed at or near its point of origin. This can be due to a herniated disc, spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal), degenerative changes, spondylisthesis (small stress fracture or congenital bone insufficiency that allow one vertebral body to slip forward on another), Piriformis syndrome (muscle irritation of the sciatic nerve), Sacroiliac joint dysfunction, and other causes.

The cervical spine is made up of 7 bones called vertebrae (C1 to C7). Each one is responsible for a few degrees of neck motion (flexion, extension and rotation). Depending on the number of levels fused and which levels are fused, you will get some limitations in neck movement. For most people, when 2 to 4 levels are fused in the lower neck vertebrae (C3 to C7), the lost motion at those segments is not limiting to their ability to move the neck. In some cases, it is not very noticeable.
However, fusing the top vertebrae (C1 and C2), a patient loses over half of their neck rotation component