The surgery is not a picnic but it's not a huge deal either. If you have the option of correcting a medically diagnosed condition with routine outpaitient surgery and you opt NOT to correct your symptom, well, it must not really be a problem for you. I had horrible CTS but all my tests "proved" I didn't have it. I had to stop riding, got depressed, angry, more depressed... I eventually found a hand surgeon who agreed that my symptoms proved I had it no matter what all the tests showed. When this surgeon opened up my wrist he actually said "WOW" out loud. He could see how tight it was in there and noted he could see that the nerves had been under pressure for some time, thanks to the incorrect test data. I still suffer from that nerve damage which might not be so bad if I could have had surgery 9 years earlier. In my opinion, if the problem is bad enough to send you to a MD, and he/she tells you surgery is an option, DO IT.