Ive had 7 operations on my lower three levels. First the intial surgerys made the whole thing worse. I'd have been better off never seeing a surgeon. Be that as it may there are certain patients who need back surgery, only they are about 1/2 of what surgeons say need them. What Im saying is there are surgeons who will cut your back at the drop of a hat to make money off your carcass. The reasons for this are two-fold, #1, they want the money, and #2,prosecuting a successful malpractice case against a back surgeon is almost impossable.
Just by listening to your symptoms it looks like your going to have to seriously consider a surgical intervention. Such symptoms, when they dont respond to therapy and rest, arent good. Most of all the numbness. Here are my recomendations.#1, Go to at least 3 neurosurgeons/neurologists and get opinions. #2, dont talk to them like they are God, and you are a serf. Ask them man to man how many of these operations they have performed and what their batting average is. #3, Only have the surgery performed at a major teaching/Neuro hospital. These shit little neighborhood hospitals will kill you faster then you think. They have many,many more complications then the major teaching hospitals have. Go out of state if you have to.
Remember that a good surgeon will do as little as he has to during the operation. If some surgeon starts talking about a major fusion go to another one and ask them what he thinks. Be aware that a properly diagnosed lamanectomy procedure has an upwards of 90% success rate for a first operation. A fusion from 65% to 75%,"successful means the patient says it was worth it 6 mos hence".
""""I don't want surgery but I can't live with this pain. """""""""
This says it all. But never,never say to yourself "it cant get worse then this with surgery". Yes it can!! It can get much worse. And with each surgery after the odds of success go down dramatically. Im not trying to scare you. I just dont want you underestimating back surgery. Gotta go to work, let us know whats decided. And all the best...........Rich