I left my go for several years in xmas 2009 it started to become 24-7 of pain . Every month I was worse then in 5 -2010 I finally got a mri -- results were severe and all the discs were pressing spinal cord ....doc said no choice without surgery I would become parlyzed so my surgery was scheduled end of july 2010 Then onr 7-4 weekend I went parlyzed on right and my pain level was thru the roof went to e.r my b/p 220/118 .They gave me morphine told my family it will knock me out for the night ---didint touch the pain!! Ginnie is right and I agree --dont let what u read scare you. Were not saying there isnt risks involved but without surgery I would have became parlyzed and no pain relief. I even got to a point I looked forward to the surgery. The longer u let it go the more you risk perm damage to the nerve. I remember the surgeon telling me you only have 18 months on the first onset of nerve damage to have it repaired usually after that it become permanent damage. This surgery gave me my life back --no im not 100% nor will I ever be I would say 90% improvement. I just dont want you to fear it ---because I honestly have no regrets!!