I really feel for you. Back surgery is a major surgery and so painful I know that for me, I had significant stenosis with the cord itself becoming depressed. In terms of the cord you have something called a dura sac and the spinal nerves float in there I believe my cord was reduced to 7. So you can have severe stenosis with the dura sac being so compressed that it affects the cord itself. Without surgery you’re bound for potential paralysis. From your MRI it appears you actually only have one area where you have moderate to severe stenosis. In your shoes I would look at only doing that level. I’ll also say that my surgeon requires both mri and CT. Interestedly they didn’t always match. If you haven’t considered a second opinion I encourage you to be open minded about getting one. You also could try doing a steroid epidural in that area and assess your pain from there. I’m sorry these decisions end up complicated. I was on a FB group for anterior neck surgery and was shocked by the number of people getting significant multiple level surgery. The more levels done the higher the complications. It also seriously extends the surgery time and I know factually the longer the surgery the higher odds are for problems Whatever you decide, I wish you great success and for your ability to stay as active as you want