I had deformed bone in my facet joint, degenerative disc in L4 and L5, and severe stenosis. They had to remove some of my L4 and L5 vertabre and take out the deformed bone. They had to replace some of the bone with a fake bone like material. They also widened my spinal canal to give my nerve room to breath. Then they installed a cage with 6 screws (fusion) to re-stabalize my spine. The surgery took 3-1/2 hours and 5 days in the hospital. I was only 22. All this was genetic so as I grew, the pain got worse. 1-1/2 years later I have the same pain as before the surgery. I have tried everything because i dont want to be on pain meds my whole life. I have already been on them for 4-5 years and have built up quite a tolerance. I can only imagine how much I would need 5-10 years from now, nevermind when im 40 or 50. It is a very frusterating situation because I cannot live with the current pain. I live a very normal life, but I have to be on meds 24/7 (percocet 10/325) and am worried about the future. My surgeon was never very good explaining everything to me and I wish I never had the surgery. The only positive thing from it is my docs believe how much pain im in, where as before it was quite a process getting proper medication. So, my point in all this is to make sure that you are sure about having surgery. It is not necesarrily the "cure all". It put me in a rut that took a while to get out of. Good luck all!