I ended up having the surgery at the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor, MI and I was thoroughly pleased with how well the surgery went. Not to mention how wonderful absolutely everyone was in the hospital. They took such good care of me!
I had the surgery on Jan 2 and I am already almost completely back to normal… still a little limited in my physical activity and cant drink carbonated beverages (which is a bummer for weekends in a college town. haha). but almost all soreness is completely gone and i am able to start getting in shape for a hiking/canoeing trip i am going on in the beginning of march.
I am really appreciative of all of your recommendations and high praise of Dr. Rice, and I really wanted to go see him. however, doctors appointments began happening so fast and before I knew it I was speaking with a surgeon at U of M and I was really comfortable with him performing the surgery. Plus he got it done in time for me to get back to school without missing a ton of time and not a ton of travel expenses (as compared to cleveland).
I am really happy how it all turned out!
once again, Thank you all sooo much!