Regression or Just Long Recovery?

My ~11 year old hound mix suddenly lost the ability to stand in his back right leg on August 25th. We took him to the emergency vet and they suspected he had a slipped disc that was confirmed the next day. Even though it was his back leg that wasn’t working (still had deep pain) the slipped disc was cervical (C3-C4 if I remember correctly). The surgery went great and he was up and walking the next day. He seemed to be healing perfectly, but about 2.5 weeks post op, after finishing Prednisone and Gaba, he began having a difficult time getting up from lying on his side. We rushed him to the emergency vet again assuming the worst since he seemed like he couldn’t move, but then he got up and started walking like nothing happened. Since then, the surgeon restarted his Prednisone and Gaba and thinks he’ll probably be on some sort of pain medication for the rest of his life.

He’s been on this second run of meds for about a week now, but still has trouble getting up when he is on his side. It seems like his front left paw doesn’t want to support his body when he rolls to get up and we normally have to help him. If we help or if he can get up on his own, he will still wince like he’s in pain.

Any advice? Is he just old and will take a long time to heal? The surgeon said the chances of another slipped disc are slim but I’m obviously nervous the worst has happened again.