I am an almost 79 year old retired white male who has suffered from occasional severe hip and left leg pain from about age 35. It persists and is controlled by pain medication at present. But within the past 3 weeks I have experienced sudden complete numbness and rubbery feeling in same L-4 or L-5 area of the spine itself -- so complete numbness that I have to support myself with my arms for about 2 1/2 to 4 minutes or I would collapse to the floor -- even though my legs themselves are NOT numb and remain controllable. By 4 minutes the numbing is gone and regular occasional symptoms (like sciatica) will continue. I just had an MRI of lumbar spine today but will be about 10 days before the results are known to me. Is herniated disc the most likely thing or are their other things being looked at or for???