Hi Henry; It seems like I was just where you are not that long ago....
I met a woman who lives here near me who went through this a couple of years back, and when she went to the ENT surgeon at Dartmouth, her husband asked him where they'd go if it was his wife, and the surgeon didn't hesitate when he said HEI in LA. I talked to Dartmouth, and then Dr Friedman in LA, and after my conversation with Friedman, canceled my appt at Mass General with some other doctor. The process was going to be really drawn out elsewhere, Dartmouth didn't inspire my confidence, and my understanding (and feeling after talking to him ) is that House Ear is simply the best. I am dreading the long haul out there, but my peace of mind made it worth it, for me. Plus we used to live in San Diego so will go down there between pre-op day and surgery. To be honest, I only considered the gamma knife thing for about 2 minutes. It just wasn't the right choice for me, but if I had decided to talk to docs who favor that treatment over surgery, I might have felt different. Some of the info about gamma knife is I'm sure he said/she said, but for me, I'm relatively young, I want this thing OUT of my head, and radiation gives me the wilies. I live in northern VT; you? I will let you know how it went after surgery; I'll either post here or on a carging bridge site (if I get my act together). Best of luck to you; I will say that though it was an agonizing decision to grapple with, I got great feedback at this forum and connected with some really helpful people, and I have felt a lot of peace since the decision. I think it's better going into the surgery or whatever, feeling peace around your decision. Thanks for thinking of me on Jul 25
. Leslie (also feel free to PM me--happy to help in any way)
