good to hear that everything went well

Yes very good to hear!! Get well soon Mack, blessings on a speedy recovery!! :)

Long live #38!!! I'm putting his jersey on now and watching the MNF game. I won't ever miss a player in a Seahawks uniform more than I'll miss Mack! It will be a shame if he is not on the Seahawks Ring of Honor within 5 years.

Get well, Mack! We miss you, man!

Harober View Medical Center? Never heard of it..

There is a great hospital in Seattle called HarborView.. Surprised he didn't go there instead..

Mack's the man, glad to here the prognosis is good.

look at the bright part. at least he gets some percaset :)

I just had this same surgery 2 weeks ago. I'm sure a super conditioned athlete like Mack will be fine in no time and will have great quality of life in a short amount of time.

Best of luck Mack! I feel your pain.

SharkHawk, what's the prognosis on moving your neck around well after you've healed and rehabbed from this kind of surgery? Best of luck to you and Mack!

Get well Mack! My bro had the same operation & it was very nasty but he is worlds better now.

I hope someone could comment on the prognosis on this type of injury since most lay men know jack about this.
I concur with Bruzyb and hope we get a response from a knowledgeable fan or even Frank.

Hope he's ok. That sounds serious. Never met Strong, but from his image he seems like a good person.

Here's to a speedy & full recovery for Mack. Hope he is back on the side lines very soon. I'm sure his presence will be missed.
Get well soon Mack. We love you!

My kids shouted out the 'We love you'. Thought it sounded too deep after I wrote it but on second thought.....

Hey bruzyb and others, thanks for the question. As with Mack's surgery, mine was what is called a "one level fusion". Just putting two vertebrae together is not that bad for mobility. Some people end up needing 3 or 4 level fusions and that really takes your mobility down. The bones in that part of the neck are quite small.

Already I have as much (if not MORE) mobility as I had before the surgery. There is the likelihood that there will be increased pressure on the discs directly above and below where the fusion takes place, but it is worth the tradeoff to take the pressure off of the spinal cord.

As with Mack, I had started to suffer from stenosis (narrowing of the spinal cord) and it was becoming extremely painful and dangerous long term. The side to side movement on my neck now is great (only 2 weeks post op!). The up and down isn't so great while I wait for the fusion to heal, but it isn't even bad enough to notice at this point.

My surgery was done by going through the front of the neck (throat), removing the disc, replacing it with a piece of cadaver bone, and then putting a titanium plate and screws on to hold the whole thing together. Within 3 months they should fuse solid as one big piece of bone (sort of like a broken bone healing). That takes all of the pressure off of the spinal cord and nerves that run to the arms.

Overall his prognosis I'm sure is the same as mine. We are about the same age. I was allowed back to work this past Friday, and can resume full activity, including golf, baseball, and running within 3 months if my fusion is solid. Football is out of course, but a full and good life is the expectation. Mack could be back on the sidelines easily for the playoffs, and would have zero issues with a broadcasting job.

The biggest pain of the whole surgery is throat pain because they have to move your vocal cords and stuff out of the way to do the procedure. Once that clears up it is clear sailing. That took me a week and a half.

If you want to read up on it, just google for "anterior cervical discectomy and fusion". I am guessing that is the way they did his procedure.

Best of luck to you Mack!

Thanks for the info SharkHawk. Glad to hear you are up & running with better mobility to boot. Wow. Can't imagine going through something like that but the prognosis sounds very bright. We will hope for the same for Mack.