Pippybread,
glad I could be of some help. There are two camps when it comes to backs. One that wants to go for surgery and one that does not. I have several clients who have had back surgery over the past 15 years, and I can think of only one that was glad she did. The others claimed that it made the problem worse or didn't help at all.

Although I'm sure its a case by case decision, when I went to my first appointment with the physical therapist, he told me that often times, MRIs can give false positives. In other words, show something that leads the Dr. to believe surgery is needed when it isn't. They don't know until they get in and realize what they thought they saw, they didn't.

I can't speak for human Dr.s, I only see animal patients, but I can tell you this. If a set of radiographs or other information is set out, and ten Dr.s (or vets in my case), look at the picture, you will get at least three if not four different opinions. There are very few cases that come into my office that bypass at least two diagnostic tests that I would take to surgery. Those are the ones that I would bet my life on needed the surgery and needed it right then or death would be the outcome. I don't have the technology that the M.D.s do, or even the Veterinary colleges, so perhaps they have a different view, but before I agreed to let someone go in surgically on me that was that close to my spinal cord, I would want more than one opinion.

Hopefully I have not insulted any neuro specialists out there. The above was not meant as a degrading comment on medicine, human or otherwise. For all I know, neuro people do five back surgeries a day and know when the information is pointing towards surgery. What I am saying is that it never hurts to get a second opinion. Unless its an emergency, you usually have time. I hope your doc can help you out. Take a deep breath and don't panic.

Sam