@jenniferhunter, yes, the surgeon was (how shall I say politely?) a jerk. The problem with MILD -- the ligament scraping procedure -- is that only pain docs do it and surgeons as a class disdain it. A pain doc will tell you surgeons hate it because it takes money out of their pockets; patients who might be told they need surgery (fusion, laminectomy, etc.) are often going for MILD in order to put off having surgery. When successful, MILD is supposed to give relief for up to 5 years... that's 5 years of lost patients to surgeons. So it's hard to trust a surgeon's opinion about the procedure. Problem is getting a good second opinion from another pain doc. In my case, when shots, ablation, etc., won't work, and when drugs aren't tolerated, MILD is what's left. So pain docs may recommend it, whether I should have it or not!