Hello, and I am sorry to hear you are having back issues. I would go for another opinion before you do the injections. This is what doctors sometimes do when they don't know what else to do. I am not thrilled with them. Also if one doesn't work, the rest usually don't either.
Since you do have an effect on the nerve root (ouch) this would be reason enough to get another neurologist to confirm. Don't do the surgery until you have that other opinion. If one doctor says get a shot, and another says get the surgery, I would be confused too. Seek out another opinion before doing injection or surgery. More opinions the better. ginnie