I'm scheduled for back surgery next month to finally relieve my sciatica. Been fighting it since last May.
Needless to say, I'm scared sh**less.
I battled Sciatic never pain for several years. Pain killers, Physical Therapy, you name it nothing helped. I worked Construction.
It got so bad that my right leg was going numb, then my Doctor Finally agreed (authorized) an MRI. MRI showed that my back was actually broken and the disc between #4 and #5 was crushed, it looked like a balloon that was being stepped on.
I was scheduled for surgery the following week.
Best thing I ever did.
Do I have pain? Sure all the time. Is it as bad as it was? Hell no not even close. Does it keep me awake a night? Sometimes. I do not take pain medication cept Neproxen (Aleve).
Do yourself a favor.
Follow the DR and PT orders to the letter. Do your exercises religiously and make sure you take long walks every day.
Mine was so bad that I will never go back to being a carpenter again, I have very limited weight restrictions. Not because the "Repair" will fail, but because the repair limits movement and abusing the repair can cause damage to the healthy disks etc, surrounding the repair.
Take it easy, do as you are told and you should be just fine. Odds are you will still have discomfort and pain however, it's how you manage that pain is what counts.