Kurt,
I hurts like hell for the first 3-4 weeks then slowly improves. I had l5-s1 fused in April 2003. I was back shooting in 5 months and back to limited duty in 6, full duty in 12 months. Make sure they put you in a good physical therapy plan. Check all the doctors. I had 3 really well known ones tell me yeah we can fix it but you'll never work ion LE again. I found a good one that had a better outlook on the career front.
Hsmith,
Find a new doctor. You will end up with permanent nerve damage and when you finally can't walk it may not be repairable.