The pain would come back every once and a while, but I just dealt with it despite it becoming increasingly worse and more prevalent. Fast forward five years and one morning my back was hurting and my legs literally felt like they were on fire from neuropathic pain. Unfortunately this happened during COVID, so I basically had to live with it for about six weeks because I could get in to see my surgeon. The pain got so bad I finally just went in to the ER and received an MRI and there was a mass around the spinal cord area of my previous surgery that was causing the pressure on the nerve root; although you never want to hear "mass" in medical conversations, but it turned out that it was scar tissue from my previous surgery that grew over the years and wrapped itself around the spinal cord.
The surgeon said he removed as much as he could safely, but he still "nicked" my spinal cord resulting in a small leak of spinal fluid and three extra days in the hospital laying flat on my back for that to heal. Now I'm starting to feel the burning in my legs again. and while I am hopeful it passes, my guess is the scar material is just regrowing and causing he same issue as a few years ago. Bottom line... if the pain is minimal or uncomfortable for short periods of time, you're better off taking Aleve and occasional steroid pack to address. If the pain completely incapacitates and dramatically and adversely impacts you life, find the best surgeon available and know its probably only a temporary fix.
Should one go to Thailand to get an honest opinion? Their services are top notch and don’t cost as much.