do you have symptoms of stenosis? Are they messing up your life? The question, I think, it is can you live with what symptoms you have, knowing you have degnerative disk disease and things will gradually get worse without intervention?

And if the answer that that's not satisfactory, you need some intervention, is there something besides surgery that might help? I think that depends on what your symptoms are.

For instance, I'm recovering from a fusion, and while ther eis no doubt I am way way better than before the laminectomy, decomression and fusion, there is stil pain. But it's pain that it seems bodyworkers can help me with. Feldenkrais is helping me learn to move differently, without it being something I have to work on--somehow it repatterns my brain to choose less painful ways of donig things. And I used to do yoga and believe that if I return to it (as soon as the feldenkrais person gives the okay), I think mild hatha yoga might help decompress. Also, I'm pretty sure that T'ai chi will help. I'm learning from the feldenkrais that there are some movements which, when repeated, seem to free things up. She doesn't recommend T'ai chi for many people, but thinks it might be very useful for me.

As we all live longer, we get the privilege of dealing with aging. Whether it requires surgery or something less drastic is, I think, extremely specific to the symptoms a person has, rather than what is visible on MRI or CT.

I wish I didn't have to have the laminectomy, but it sure cured a lot of symptoms. I wish I didn't have to have the fsion, but I had spondylolisthesis, and I was pretty sure that if I had a laminectomy and no fusion I'd end up in more pain. But I don't think everyone has the same situation, though it does seem we almost all get spinal stenosis at some point.

Have you looked at other options?