Back Story...literally! Part 1

Hello everyone!!
As many of you all know, I have been having some pretty painful back issues. I would not wish this on anyone...no matter how much I dislike them! Today is 2 weeks post-op!! Woo Hoo!!

Back story: Around the first week of February I started having some mild, lower back pain. It didn't seem like anything too bad and I have a history of back pain from time to time. Before this time, it always resolved on it's own.
Well this time, it didn't. The pain started to get worse and then I started having pain in my left leg. This leg pain is called sciatica and is common with lower back injuries. I spoke to several of the doctors I work with and they all told me to try a steroid dose pack,  NSAIDS, and ibuprofen. They said hopefully in 4-6 weeks it should resolve itself.
Well 6 weeks later, my pain was worse and I was popping pills every 4 hours like clockwork...even in the middle of the night, to get any relief I could. I was hobbling around the best that I could. I could manage to get through work, but on my days off I was useless. It took those days to recover so that I could manage to go back to work. I finally called and made an appointment with a spine specialist.
He took some x-rays, I had an MRI and was diagnosed with DJD and a protruding disk. The DJD didn't surprise me, it's fairly normal, but the protruding disk, not so much.
It was nice to finally have an answer, to know that I wasn't crazy.
Now what to do about it....