Find a good workman comp attorney and start a file with them(it should not cost you anything, cause they get paid at the settlement) this will also help you in the event that the companys insurance company decides to get crappy with you(which I can assure you they are planning) Really think long and hard about any back surgery options because as a Dr. Friend of mine once told me (because I am in the same condtion as you), "You aren't on crutches, or in a wheel chair, I wouldn't do that surgery!" Surgery should be a very last option becasue the procedure is absolutely life altering if they do a fusion!! And recovery is a long period(at least a year) and allot of the time it produces no benefit in regards to pain reduction or nerve damage. Esp. if it has been injured for any length of time. Example(from my Nuerosurgen, He likened the nerves that have been pinched by the disc rupture to garden hose that has a been 'kinked'. If you straighten it out right away then it will resume its original shape. But if its been pinched for any extended amount of time, then like the garden hose it will remain 'kinked'. so he told me that there was less than 18% chance of regeneration of full nerve function. So with those odds I decided against for myself. If you are just now being sent for an MRI after 43 weeks that would be the 'extended' garden hose kink time period. Also if this is your Dr (and not a company Dr.) any further Dr's that the company or insurer may want to send you to have your MRI's looked at for their version of a second opionon, Instead of submiting those films to the second Dr. Get the hospital Dr. who took the MRI to Write out their assesment of your MRI results(you will have to call that Dept. and give them a week or so to get it written) and ONLY submit those to the company/insurance Dr. that they have brought in for the '2nd op. The reason is: With the films, they can be interpeted a number of different ways, and any Dr. they will have is going to try to minimize the MRI films record. Whereas a written report of the what was witnessed by the MRI Dr. is not going to allow any phoney reports to be submitted by the opposing Company/insurance hired Dr. Hope that makes sense>