I am 59 yr old male, suffering with very painful T5 joint for 30 years (it seems to sometimes pinch a nerve that hurts so bad I get even more painful lumps of muscle cramp all around my upper back and under shoukder blades) and sometimes it just aches, like toothache. Fir the oast 10 years I've had an acheing C7 joint. They both seem to get inflamed together - and this is my question: my wife furst noticed that when I get a flare up I also get a very large lump appearing over the T5 and a strong cheesy smell, a similar cheesy smell and sometimes a lump also emerges at the C7 location - can there be a connection and hiw should it best be treated? MRI scans show a narrowing of the nerve channels due to calcification and aethritic deterioration is apparent, but the back surgeons always say I should only have surgery as a very last resort, i.e. if I start to lose the use of an arm.