Thanks - I do appreciate your words of re-assurance. The surgery name itself ("dissection") sounds scary enough in itself - but I hope and pray that it is as relatively easy as most people say it is. Thanks Joanna, for your help - it means a lot to me! How are you doing? After all this is over with, what is usually the next step? I imagine more tests will be in the works - but is everything a just "wait and see" game from here? Thanks again to everyone for your advice and help, it means a lot.