[runner]

God Bless you Kathy.
I have had these crazy sciatica/numbness symptoms for a while and despite the conservative treatment, nothing much has changed but the back pain is getting worse and worse.
Yes, before this, I was on the road to recovery and I could not believe it. I was still tired, and had some little symptoms like slight tingling in my lower legs and feet. Nothing above that and I was doing good, just recovering slowly. Sore, tight muscles, but my surgeon was pleased.

The problem with back surgery IMHO is that things are rearranged and nothing is the same so things flare up and go down and it is the normal recovery process. So back in late October, after a pretty-much normal MRI, and some treatment, they thought it was just normal recovery or some irritation from micro-motion at the back of the disc.
Finally, in January, I asked the doc to check into the facets and then I was sent to a pain management doc, who has dealt with patients with discs. My previous pain doc had not. I got the facet injection and like my pain doc said the other day, i got no relief, even in recovery right after so the facets don't look like they are the culprit.
Then the ESIs, which gave me some brief relief, but not enough. This has led to them getting the next test done.
From what I have seen and heard, I think doctors really look at your one-year mark as a milestone. This is just the realization of what I have feared all along. You just know something is wrong, but you don't know what because the back is so darn complicated.
Got to go, "Gabi" is wearing off and my right leg and foot are "tickling" right now.