[gsxrken]

There are few types of surgeries that actually have a name for when they are unsuccessful, but FBSS is short for Failed Back Surgery Syndrome. Some people go through with it and wake up with no improvement at all. Sort of like trying to change parts on a car without a proper diagnosis.

Folks with referred leg pain have a better chance of a desired outcome from surgery than some one with mostly back pain. An MRI can look like a disaster and yet the patient has no complaints, or the complete opposite is true where someone is in agony and the MRI looks fine. Symptoms and imaging have to agree with an examination before you decide to go down the surgery route.
Look up a microdiscectomy on YouTube. Operating on the lower back is not as risky as dealing with vertebrae higher up where the spinal cord hasn't split off into the horse tail of various individual nerves. It's (relatively) straightforward and most are up and walking the next day, albeit gingerly, and with a restricted set of activities. YMMV of course and you'll never be 18 again no matter how well it goes.