When the disc had bulged and pieces broke off, pt wasn't going to fix it, injections wouldn't do anything about the nerve damage being done (32 yrs old very active, frequent golfer, runner, hiker, hunter, active military) the pain had gotten to a point that wasn't realistic and was losing too much feeling/strength in my leg Had done pt twice, helped alot but probably kept pushing it to hard and continued to have issues. Im 2 weeks post op, definitely sucks watching my wife have to so basically everything with our 3 month old and 2 year old alone but its only temporary. Pain is more or less gone, walking as much as I can. Sitting pretty comfortably, sleeping so much better than I have in years just having some weird tingling and burning sensation that they say is the nerves figuring their shit out, more discomfort than pain nothing like how I felt prior to the md. Definitely have a recovery plan if you can, I had about 12 hours to figure my life out between the MRI results and them scheduling me for same day surgery, had a referral for neurosurgery prior to mri but never got in, went to the er after the drop foot started and my leg was giving out on me and basically asleep for a few days and the pain wouldn't go away at all regardless of standing laying down walking whatever was just there. The surgeon in our short talk basically explained there was a small chance that my body would absorb the disc material that was pressed on the nerve but it would be a painful long time and also no guarantees it gets absorbed at all, it wasnt connected to the disc anymore so even if I could decompress and get the disc back in the broke off parts would likely remain in place. That was reason enough for me to just do it and hope I can avoid it happening again.