Welcome Dawn & Alan!! I know the area well, as I have a place in San Rafael where my sister now lives. Great view, great atmosphere!! Envious of all your projected and past cruises - that's great!! And you'll find this board addicting - great folks!!

Masaki: Yes, as I told you, that's the mentality they drill into you - it's a grueling 3 weeks (for some, at least), and the easiest part is actually the jumps (or so I thought!!). And after all my efforts, I REALLY wanted it!! All I can say now is that I bounced well when I landed!!! <img border="0" alt="[naughty]" title="" src="graemlins/naughty.gif" /> As for the MRI's, I had to go back and review my documents (curiosity killed this cat!!) On the Cervical MRI in the military, my military Orthopedic Surgeon informed me that I had "mild degenereative disk disease consistent with someone my age" and that I didn't require surgery. I realize now that the current MRI's (or those for the herniated disks) only did Lumbar and Thoracic, not Cervical. But the radiologist reviewed the cervical MRI when I was in the military (from 1 1/2 yrs prior) with the write up for the other two - and also identified some disk protrusions and cervical stenosis, etc that wasn't mentioned by the Orthosurgeon. The Neurosurgeon basically recommended to either do the Myelogram (for a neurological assessment) or continue nonsurgical therapy. He never mentioned herniated disks until I went for the review after the Myelogram. Looking back, I guess "disk protrusions" with "cervical stenosis" is the criteria for herniated disks (which I didn't know at the time, nor did my Dr tell me)- too much medical jargon for me to interpret other than the shock on knowing I had to have surgery and soon (and I thought all the jargon in the military was bad!!) Still, I wish this would have been taken care of earlier than later, as time only made it worse - obviously!! THANKS for straightening me out - I was rather perturbed at the thought that the MRI's weren't sufficient (as I thought they were!), now I know better!!