chronic pain after microdiscectomy

Hello,
I am seeking support because I am exhausted of this battle. My history is that I am mid-40's and have had lower back pain for the last 3-4 years. I dealt with it until I couldn't and in May 2024 I went to my primary dr. Three months of PT, then an MRI in 8/2024- herniated disc at L3-4. They sent me to pain management. Three rounds of injections Dec 2024-Feb 2025, no relief, it just kept getting worse. Finally in late Feb things got so bad that I ended up in the ER-- that resulted in an emergency microdiscectomy to remove a 19mm herniation. Five days post-op, the pain comes raging back. MRI 14 days post-op showed L3-4 with 5mm herniation to the right AND L4-5 herniated to the left (this is new). I also had "minor" foot drop post-op. I was referred to UCSF May of 2025, they wanted to clean it out again but I opted for PT, I was afraid of more damage. Things seemed to be improving but I was also on loads of gabapentin which I stopped in late May because it was awful on my psyche. Mid June my back is visibly crooked and so much pain- months more of PT, multiple visits to the local surgeon, no one can tell me why this is happening but they also act like none of it is that big of a deal. I had another MRI Oct 2025, L3-4/4-5 still herniated with worsening degeneration of the bone at 3-4. My spine is visibly curving to the left in imaging. I called UCSF back and waited 8 weeks for an appointment which was supposed to be yesterday but was cancelled and pushed out another 4 weeks. PT could not show any improvement so they stopped seeing me in Oct (probably an insurance thing). Dr here said go to pain mgmt-- I don't want steroids in my body, it did not even work. My pain is worse, my body is crooked and I am not living a normal life at this point, far from it. I feel like I am in purgatory-- not serious enough to be addressed with any urgency, but plenty bad enough to make me miserable on a daily basis. I would love to connect with anyone who has been in a similar spot.