Well, Im a mess!

[Xrayted]

Wow Snap. Just wow. Ok, I'm not a doc and never will be one but I do a lot of cervical xrays and work shoulder to shoulder with the spine docs during procedures. I've seen them do a wide range of things for people in your spot. So, here goes...

Osteophytes are bone spurs. We all get them, just a matter of when and how much. Think of it as arthrits in your neck. Repeated stress on the neck and shoulders (hate to tell you that biking is a big contributor to this), genetic predisposition, whiplash injuries and the like increase our risk of getting them worse. We can see them very well on xrays and then they do an MRI or CT to check out the soft tissue and nerve openings to see if they are possibly being impinged in any way. Since yours is affecting the C5,6,7 areas, I suspect that is where your arm pain has been coming from since that is where those nerves run to. They create problems in your forearms, elbows, down into your hands, sometimes making it hard to grip things. It says your right side is impinged more than the left (narrowing of neural foramen - holes where your nerves run through) which, if I remember correctly, is the side you are having difficulty with. There is a positive in all of this, I didn't see any mention of possible herniated discs. That is a very good sign. That usually means no surgery needed.
The absence of the lamina of C1 is not likely related to any of your symptoms, just one of those things that happen on rare occasions. If it makes you feel any better, you probably made some young med resident's day by having that show up.

So, where does that leave you? Well, there are many degrees of good and bad when it comes to the spine and each person really is very different in what their body can handle. It also depends on how far along it has progressed before being correctly diagnosed. (Did the previous people even bother to do neck xrays. That should have been one of the first things to look at.)
They sometimes try to start with therapy and NSAIDS to relieve the inflammation without using steroids. For a more advanced degeneration, they also can go in with a very thin spinal needle and inject steroids right where you hurt (this is where I come in, I show them the way) that will dull the pain and relieve your radiating symptoms. These usually last for 3-6 months and then you return for more. Some people do this for years and are very happy with it because it's an outpt thing and they walk out feeling like brand new in many cases with just a few needle holes to show for it. They can also do denervations which, in easy terms, is placement of a needle near the offending nerve (not your spinal cord), then they stimulate it to make sure that it's the correct one and then burn it off. (Just the sensory part, not the motor part. That's why they stim it first, to make sure they have it perfectly placed.) The only thing that people typically feel for either of these procedures is the pressure of the needle through the Lidocaine numbness. You could also have surgery to try to remove some of the spurring depending on where/how bad it is.
There are other, more invasive treatments and some easier ones that I haven't mentioned here due to my fingers starting to cramp , but you get the idea of the broad range of treatments out there. It all depends on your very specific circumstances and what you and your docs are willing to do to get relief. I've seen incredible results with the steroid and denervations stuff and wouldn't hesitate to do it if I needed it. Just make sure you pick a good doc that is an expert on them.

I'm including some pics that point out a bunch of parts that are in your CT report in case you wanted to get a better idea of where/how. The 1st one is AP (looking straight forward), the 2nd one is lateral (standing sideways), and the last one is an oblique (turned at a 45 deg angle).

Good luck on getting things to feeling right again. I'm anxious to see what you end up doing and how it all works out for you. I think you will be amazed how quickly you can get relief and get back your old routine.

(((Snap)))