Well - go to the website of Dr. Jerome Groopman who has some articles on this kind of surgery. It is called a laminectomy and should be a very last resortt. They key is to use a surgeon who has done a lot of them, in a facility that has done a lot of them. This makes for an uncomfortable question you must ask: "Doctor, how many of these procedures have you done in the last month, and year?" Ask for a 3T MRI and try physical therapy with another person before you agree to surgery. Try a transdermal lidocaine patch (no more than 12 hours a day) and what is called a TENS device. If these two options have not been discussed by your pain management consultant, find another pain manager.
I've already tried the lidocaine patches, and they do not work. Doing any type of physical therapy or exercise really is uncomfortable and I don't want to hurt myself anymore then I already am. I'm at the point in my life where I'm ready for babies, and I need this pain to go away ASAP.