what's my future look like after lumbar fusion?

New to the forum here. A quick recap of my history: I broke my tailbone in 2000 playing soccer and have experienced lower back pain off/on ever since. Finally this January everything came to a head when my disc ruptured. After some land based PT and an epidural it was decided that I needed a discectomy. My MRI showed severe DDD in L5-S1, moderate DDD in L4-L5 and mild DDD in L3-L4.

I had the procedure in March and got nothing from it. My pain level increased and was an "8" on the pain scale around the clock.

After several months of trying to get a disc replacement approved by my insurance we were forced to go to plan B, fusion. My disc replacement was denied 4 times because I had multiple levels of DDD and their policy stated that I needed healthy discs on each side of the disc in question. In July I had an anterior lumbar fusion on L5-S1 at 42 years old.

It's been a rough 2 months post-op. I now suffer from bad sciatic pain in each leg and the expected back pain. I manage my sciatic with gabapentin and that seems to help. My back pain is managed through regular Tylenol. Recently I just started aquatic PT. The decompression really seems to help but it will be a long road ahead. This brings me to why I'm here, what is a timeline for me to expect another surgery for my next level?

At my age I can expect to see more of these but if I do my exercises and follow the ergonomic advice I've been given what kind of time does that buy me?

Thank you for listening and offering any advice.

Thanks, Brent