Thanks for the info chaps and very sorry to hear of your predicament, ihatesnakes.
Am in the fortunate position that my tumour is benign (biopsied a couple of days back) but it will have to come out so as to prevent a malignancy in the future. The surgeon that I am currently under has done lots of these procedures but is out of current practice and is also firmly of the opinion that Dubai is NOT the place to get this done. He also recommended that I use a surgeon in current practice, as you guys have also said. Have found a surgeon in the states, his brother in fact (a large family of surgeons!) who is very current and, indeed is doing 3 of these in august. My surgeon will assist his brother in the op and this has the advantage of not needing to duplicate tests etc as the work up is all but done and then he can take care of the post operative work back in Dubai, thus ensuring continuity of care. It seems a good option to me.
Was wondering about how long the recuperation is and how much time to get back into the cockpit? What is life like immediate post op?