Flopsy, my wife had a C6/7 discectomy and fusion with a titanium SOLIS cage about 12
years ago. She'd suffered with excruciating pain down her left arm into hand for about 6 months prior to surgery. They think the prolapse was caused by her breastfeeding. They were very reluctant to treat with surgery and she was on all sorts of medication, amitriptyline, gabapentine,dihydrocodeine etc. Nothing really worked, just doped her up. She was off work for six months with a baby and became depressed. We pushed for surgery and it had an immediate impact. She woke up pain free, no complications at all. She's got a tiny scar on her neck, half an inch maybe. She did have some slight numbness in her fingertips for a while and she lost some power in her tricep. They reckon that was due to the nerve being compressed for so long. After a couple of months she was back exercising as usual.
Good luck, I remember how horrendous it was for her and wouldn't wish it on anyone.