Jim,
I just checked in here and read your post. I,m in the same boat as you right now. Sitting around being bored. I went in last Friday and had C5/6, C6/7 discs repaired. Pretty painful weekend but starting to feel a lot better. I went through the L5/S1 surgery about 10 years ago and haven't had any problems since. Just don't lift anything heavy anymore, cause you don't want to go through that again. I'm hoping my neck heals as well as my lower back. At least it's winter and not missing much riding. Heal up and take it easy.
Steve