Sometimes you need to have a couple ablations in the same spot to work. Also, there are two types of ablations one is heat and one is pulse. The pulse one did not work at all on me only the heat. Also, my pain management doctor would only do Three levels at a time. So that meant I had to go back to get the other lumbar levels done. There are also other treatments like epidurals and steroid injections. I loved my fusion surgery, but I am looking at returning for the other areas that were not done six years ago. It was wildly successful. A friend of mine had it done on her back at 80 years old. I don’t know about you but surgery requires a big investment to recuperate. At 84 you would have to be willing to engage in a lot of exercise or the doctor is right to not recommend fusion surgery. There are other things you can try like deep my facial tissue release (MFR.) it’s like a really painful massage, but it gets down there where the muscles are out of whack because of your spine being out of whack and there is of course exercise. People discount “core“ exercise but when you have nothing else to try, it’s really amazing. The only time I did not take narcotic pain reliever was when I got into a great Pilates yoga class that worked on my lumbar core for nine months. Unfortunately, I could not keep it up and it was easier for me to have surgery at a certain point. Good luck!