I've finally got my surgery date for a normal discectomy. Next week I will have it done. Now that I know it's going to happen, I find myself scared and wondering if I am doing to the rigght thing. Have any of you found this to be the case. Do you find yourself wondering "we'll maybe I can live with the pain" or "is this worth it" I don't think i would be doing it if I had the ability to exercise and play tennis. Two things I would love to do but can no longer. I've gotten my opinions from two neuros who both left the decision to me. Honestly, I think I could live with it using medication, but there comes a point in which one must proceed because I don't want to sit around and not be active living on medication.

I'm sorry if I'm rambling just wondering if you all felt that way before surgery.

A reputable Neurosurgeon told me that it depends on your level of pain...on a scale of 1-10, if you rate it 5 or above, you should probably have the surgery as it comes down to quality of life. It also depends on what you are trying to "heal". I was told that the surgery would only alleviate the associated leg pain, not guaranteed to heal back pain.

I also sought out a second NS who was well skilled in micro-discectomies vs. the open ones (which my first NS only performed)...after some investigating, I realized it was because, he wasn't willing to learn the newest and latest techniques.

Good Luck to You!

Well, we all handle things differently. Went through two discectomies, and there was no way to wait on anything. My legs could not hold me up and the pain was in my opinion, above a 10. However, although I was able to survive a couple of days with the second one, in that kind of pain, a micro-discectomy versus normal one was of little importance to me.

I see on the board where many people seem to have longer recovery and suffer more from their surgery with the micro-disectomy than I did with the normal one. There is so much involved from how each of us deal with pain, to the type of surgery to the particulars of how good the surgeon is. What I can tell you is that the incision from my regular discectomy was only 2 to 2 1/2 inches versus one inch, but I'm likely older than you, so the scar size didn't mean much to me.

Secondly, the surgeon was excellent, and when I woke from the surgery I felt I was ready to get up and go dancing. Had my surgery late the day the disc herniated, and stayed overnight in the hospital, mainly because of concern for my other health problems. Still, did great, and had very little discomfort from the surgery site at all, resuming walking the day I was released, and returned to most normal activities in 2 weeks, and was released for all activities at one month doc visit.

So long as you are confident in your doc, are looking forward to the relief from pain, and have not had severe compression of the nerve for more than 6 months, then focus on being rid of the hurting and return to normal life. I am a believer in focusing on the positive results and leaving dreading less than 100% improvement to the time that it is needed should I not get better. If I focused on "what if I don't get totally better" I could work myself into missing out and enjoying the great improvement that I do get.

Best wishes for wonderful days ahead.