6 Months Post OP ACDF - Bone Growth

Because I can see how many people have viewed blogs...I know ones with ACDF in title have been viewed more. So I know some have found these when worried / researching what to expect or if what they're currently going thru is "normal". So I wanted to just jump on with a 6 month post op update. I was fully cleared from Spinal Surgeon two days ago. Since I started smoking again at 6 weeks post op I was very fearful I would not have signs of bone growth. I researched the hell out of Red Light therapy and did 8x a month from late Jan to present in hopes of helping with bone growth. When I specifically asked, he pointed at the xray and said bone growth looked "great. One solid unit" going from above fusion area to below. Said I had no worsening of areas above and below (AKA adjacent disc disease), my stenosis, arthritis etc all looked just as they were prior to surgery! Yay! Celebrated that night with a rare piece of cheese cake bought at store. Still get slight zapping nerve pain in left if bending over or leaning on left arm but 95% normal is so much better than constant pain so if this is life now, I'll take it. Sitting up straighter than I have my entire life LOL who knew moms were so right about sitting up straight? But laying down, I can sleep on either side as much as I want. I do get muscle spasms here and there but they only last mere seconds. And they are anywhere from neck side to upper back to upper arms. Maybe 3ish times a week? So I'll be sitting at work or at home and suddenly back of right upper arm twiches for 30 seconds. Just long enough to think, huh that's twitchy, then it stops. A few days later it will be a total different spot but same thing. In the past 3 months I've only had 4 days where muscles felt sore enough for a muscle relaxer at night. End of March, I did stop icing neck/upper back 3x a week because we went on vacation and I felt fine when we got back that I thought - oh, maybe I don't actually need it anymore and was doing it out of habit. But last two weeks I've felt a bit more sore that I'm back to icing here and there. Again- if this is life from now on...it's better than the alternative and not that much a burden on life. Otherwise life is totally back to normal (see earlier post today on all things vacation planning and hiking LOL to know I'm back to old me). Hope anyone that has read thru all the posts post-op can see there were times I was sure life would never be normal again. And while some recover quick, some a few months like me and yes some I have read some said it took a full 18 months (And the rare horror stories of never feeling better) that you can hit low points and work your way up. Try to stay positive.