Long Day

I woke up at 5 am this morning and got to work by 6 am. On the days Kathleen is off I try to get in by 6 am so I can get off at 2:30 pm to have more time with my family. Work was slow today so I had a bit of free time to get a few personal things done. One of the biggest decisions I have to make right now is whether or not to have surgery for a herniated disc in my back. Last April I hurt it landscaping and I have been paying for it ever since. I didn't know I had a herniation until I had an MRI in October of last year. November and December we're extremely painful for me. Basically I wasn't able to walk or sit or sleep without significant pain down the back of my buttock, leg and calf. To top that off, I have had extreme numbness and hot/cold sensations. The MRI showed that my nerve is severly impiniged. So it's been a rough last 3 months for me, so I visited a surgeon this week and he is able to do what is called an arthroscopic microdisectomy, where he is able to use a cannula to basically suck out the loose, bulging pieces of my disc. It sounds painful, but it's an outpatient surgery that requires no hospital stay. It appears to be a much better alternative to an open disectomy where the surgeon basically cuts six inches and spreads your back wide open, cutting and mutilating muscle and dura to get to the disc. The problem is that my pain and numbness has diminished significantly over the last three weeks. I did have two epidural steroid injections in November and early December but they didn't seem to work very well. So my dilemma now is should I be happy with just being able to walk without pain? Or do I go ahead with the surgery so I can get back to playing basketball, weightlifting and running? Not sure what to do....