seank

My pain is mostly axial in nature, seems to be getting better and gets better with leaning forward. There is little sciatica. I am fairly active (walking about 3 miles or more a day) and off meds due to impending surgery (have not even taken a tylenol in 48 hours). Pain in back never exceeds a 3-4, sciatica at worst is 1-2. My symptoms are clearly getting better.

Seems crazy to even be considering fusion, but that MRI looks bad. I am being told that this could get ugly pretty quick with little warning. Just trying to figure out if the risk of fusion is greater than risk of living with this time bomb in my back. Am I at risk for paralysis?