Nice posts you all!
Molly, I'd be happy to speak with you in the coming days to embellish a bit on these posts thoughtful too. There's a lot to consider -- and Zorro raises an uncomfortable point (pun intended!) about trying to get to the pain generator. IMHO, undiagnosed disease (not just DDD) is an overlooked culprit.
Forgive me if you mentioned this, but what kind of shape were your facets in before surgery? And do you have any way of knowing the rate of degeneration
in the 2-3 years preceding surgery? Did you have a series of imaging studies?