MRI evidence of bulging or herniated disks are not necessarily the cause of your problems. I have numerous friends and relatives who went straight to surgery as you propose (let's fix this now) who unfortunately got no relief for the original problems --and also had new pains and problems as a result of their surgery. I also have friends who got great results.
Some years ago Scientific American (quoting numbers from memory here) did a study comparing (1) people with MRI evidence of disc issues, and (2) people experiencing severe back pain. The study concluded minimal correlation between the two groups (I think they concluded 20% of population goes through life with reasonably extreme herniations, and 20% of the population experiences debilitating back pain, but the groups show very little correlation). They further suggested an observed ~75% success rate from back surgery --and, of the remaining 25%, a large percentage (I don't remember exact number), got worse. They also suggested 85% of population experience some significant back pain in the lifetime, and it almost always just goes away (again can't remember exact number but 90% rings a bell). Those all roughly match my experiences (35 years of various types of back pain that all came and went with no surgery).

A more recent study I've read suggested back problems with sciatic pain radiating to specific spots down the lower extremities had a higher success rate from surgery than those who had surgery for more localized (lower back) pain. Unfortunately my pain is mostly localized with not so much sciatica. No surgery for me.