Hello and sorry to hear about your herniation. There is not much info out there on thoracic hernations as they are very rare, somewhere between .5 to 1% of hernations are in the T spine. From what I have read, surgery is very difficult and usually only done for life threatening situations. Non surgical pain management is the first line of treatment. Do you have other symptoms such as leg weakness, problems walking, problems urinating or with your bowels? These are what the docs follow before deciding on surgical intervention. The are informative threads here from those who had surgery right below this thread! I have a mixed bag with lumbar axonal nerve damage and a large herniation with mild cord pressure T6-T7.

Here are some links you may find helpful:
http://www.umm.edu/spinecenter/educa...racic_disk.htm

http://www.spine-health.com/conditio...ation-symptoms