Sorry need to highjack.
Jim if you can avoid this surgery by all means do so, try anything else first. I say this because once it starts it seems to never end.
I am recovering from #8 as I sit here, fused from s1 to l3 and to be honest at this point I feel no better than before surgery. This last one took 4.5 hours to move some hardware around and do repairs to the original surgery site l5-s1. Still have terrible leg pain )both) and not looking like it will get better. Docs. say it needs to heal but after 8 times you just get to know if it worked or not. It was done 10/21.
So from somebody who has been there think long and hard about other options. GOOD LUCK.