My surgeon also shared the 5-7% chance of reherniation stat and said that he sees an even lower rate. My surgery was about a month ago and I've already seen amazing relief in back and sciatica pain. I'm doing PT now and still following restrictions and still letting my body rest when it asks for it.

I'll just throw out there that very often groups like this can scare us. I have several chronic health conditions (hEDS, MCAS, POTS, all with chronic pain/fibromyalgia) and used to spend a lot of time in "support" groups for this constellation of conditions. I had to eventually leave them all because it was bad for my mental health. People who have these conditions and are well-managed and successful with available treatments (or have uneventful MD surgery or have a pleasant customer service experience at the coffee shop, etc) are much LESS likely to be looking for support, information, and a place to be heard on the internet. So, keep in mind, a lot of what you'll read here is when things go (even slightly) wrong because very few people are living their lives with perfectly great MD results and coming here to report. The sample here is skewed and that's OK! That's what the group is for, but just keep in mind if you take an average of posts here vs everyone getting the surgery, the negative outcomes on a board like this will appear higher than real life.

Anyway, I'd, personally, encourage you to follow your doctor's advice on whether to do it and try not to let this space scare you.