Has Anyone Here Had a Diskectomy For a Bulging Disc?

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I had an appointment with a neurosurgeon today about a back problem that has been bothering me for over four months now. After any significant period of standing and walking i get a pain that goes from my lower back down my left leg.. and it keeps getting worse. Part of my left foot has also become numb. The fact that i have to stand and walk around at work every day isn't helping matters, either.
Initially when i went to the doctor for the back pain, they prescribed me some Vicodin/Hydrocodone to get through the pain and some muscle relaxers and just hoped that it would heal itself. It didn't.. So, the next time i went to the doc they recommended physical therapy. I went for awhile and it actually helped and i stopped getting pain for a few weeks. I kept doing the exercises at home, but eventually the pain came back and has gotten even worse. So, after i went to the doc again they gave me an MRI. The MRI i got showed that i had a bulging disc in the bottom of the lumbar region that isn't a very large bulge, but it is pressing right up against a nerve root.
So, they made an appointment with the neurosurgeon. He said that he could give me a cortisone shot, but that would just be temporary pain relief and a problem that's been going on this long and is already causing nerve damage isn't going to just go away.. so i'd probably be back in for more shots and eventually end up getting surgery. He said that i could do that if i wanted, but that he recommends just going ahead and doing surgery, even though the fact that i'm so young(i'm 22!) means that the surgery could cause future back problems. The surgery he's going to do is a Diskectomy, where they go in and take out just the part of the disc that is bulging out and irritating the nerve.. and the pamphlets call it "microsurgery." We made the surgery appointment for next month, and he prescribed me Oxycodone to take when i have to walk around much or work until then(but i'll have to stay out of work for three months after the surgery).

So, i was wondering if anyone here has had this procedure done before and how it went. I've never had any surgeries before, so i'm not really sure what to expect.

Not me personally but both my wife and father have back problems. Your problem sound just like my wife’s she has a herniated disk that pinches her sciatic nerve and that gives her pain in her leg and a numb foot.

She helped her self with a Traction device called True Back the web site is www.trueback.com it help out a lot but it did not cure her she will have pain forever.

Now my Father has degenerative disk disease and got the surgery called a spinal fusion this surgery has crippled him and he is now considered 75% disabled

So be very careful on what you choose.

What helps my wife the most is a healthy diet and moderate exercise. Just try not to over work your back.

My dad had two completely herniated discs and had a similar (though more extreme) surgery. The difference for him has been night and day. He used to barely be able to get in and out of the car, and now he is able to pick up his grandchildren. I would not generally think surgery was a good idea for someone so young. However, if you are on those types of painkillers and you're having nerve problems, this could be a huge blessing for you.