You have had some great advice. The only thing that the others forgot was to tell you that the final step before closing you is to drop in a grenade. .

I wish more surgeons were upfront about post op pain and how long it will take to start feeling better. While it varies from person to person, you had some serious work done and it will take time, patience and the therapies that were discussed. As Lee stated, the purpose of the surgery is structural repair. I have had eight spinal surgeries and only one resulted in lower pain levels. Hang in there.