Hi Leaffe ~ You may not believe this, but I had the same thing as you -- that was in 1986. I also had surgery in 1987, in January. The surgeon removed the part of the disc that was herniating, like your surgeon did. They CANNOT remove the WHOLE disc or you'll have bone-on-bone between the vertebra.

After surgery, I still had pain. And today I STILL have the same pain, 26 years later, except it's worse. I've done everything I'm supposed to -- changed my diet, tried to exercise (exercising may it MUCH worse -- even pool therapy). I've walked until my feet were so sore I could cry. Nothing has helped.

My spine is in rotten shape. In 1995 I had to have another surgery on the level above the first one (Domino effect). It didn't help the sciatica. And now I have Fibromyalgia.

I sure never thought I'd have sciatica for this long. It can be very depressing to say the least. I pray you aren't "sentenced" to a life of pain, but it happens.

Best of luck and please take care of yourself! God bless. Hugs, Lee