Well, the countdown has begun. Bob had thought he'd try to W & W until he retired (he's 60), but after meeting with Dr. Chang in March he changed his mind. Dr. Chang told him the argument for having it done sooner rather than later is that the symptoms you go into the procedure with are usually the ones you come out with & normally will not experience any new ones. He said there's also a greater chance of preserving his hearing. Other than constant Tinnitus, being extremely tired, some headaches & fullness, Bob is fortunate to not have some of the symptoms a lot of you have, so he thought it made sense to act on it now. He actually was planning on having it done in May but developed another condition (PMR) that prevented it. They say the PMR is not related to the AN, but the stress of dealing with it might have triggered the condition... They finally got that under control so we're now getting going again. Anyhow, we fly into Palo Alto on Sun., July 29th & begin the pre op stuff on Mon. with radiation being Wed. the 1st of Aug. - Fri., the 4th. A question for those of you who had CK -- would you have been able to fly home the day it was completed? We scheduled our flights for a day later, but were wondering if we should wait & fly home Sun. or if he's up to it, fly home Fri. late afternoon??? Also, was flying a problem? Living in AZ, I could certainly drive if that would be easier for him. I'm sure dreading this for Bob, but it will also be good to get this step behind us!