[keziah23]

I understand and sympathize with you, while I did have pain, quite significant in fact, it was not the pain that finally drove me to the surgery, it was the numbness, didn't want that the rest of my life and it was getting worse. I also understand how doctors like to make it sound like you need the surgery tomorrow or ELSE! I was told in 2000 that I "had to have" the surgery, even back then I knew artificial disc were on the horizon and said no thank you and stuck it out til 6 weeks ago. Right now I'm glad I went ahead with it, but if you'll read in my treads you'll see that about a month before the surgery I was feeling fine, up til the day of, but I knew it wouldn't last, it never did for me.
Bottom line is that no one can make the decision for you, just be as informed as you can about the consequences on both sides.