Hi, Maggie -
deciding which treatment to choose might very well be the hardest part of your AN journey.
I have no personal experience with House - didn't even send my MRI results there for their free consultation - but I can honestly tell you I have read mixed things about them both on this forum and through PMs. Some patients rave about them; some patients curse them. Regardless, the thing I've heard repeatedly about House is that they recommend surgery 99.9% of the time - which makes perfect sense since they are the pioneers of AN surgery. Surgical treatment of ANs is what they do, they do alot of it, and they are experts at it.
But is surgery right for all AN patients? IMO it's not - and that's coming from someone who actively chose surgery.
I guess my point is, like Brian said, docs tend to recommend what they do. If you go to a doc who believes in surgery, chances are he'll recommend surgery. If you go to a doc who believes in radiation, chances are he'll recommend radiation. From what I've heard from friends and relatives in other medical situations, this is true of most doctors. I remember my best friend telling me when her mom was dying from lung cancer that certain doctors her family consulted had reputations as "cutters" (they advocated surgery) while others had reputations as "zappers" (they advocated chemotherapy).
I was lucky enough to be referred to a neurotologist who does both surgery and radiation and he insisted that I make my own decision. He even told me that if I chose surgery, it was my choice which approach I wanted (retrosigmoid vs translab). He had no problem giving me the pros and cons of each treatment, the statistics related to every possible side-effect of each treatment, plus he answered all my questions and then some, but he made it crystal clear that it was my decision and that I must be the one to make it. At the time, I felt I was the absolute worst person to make this decision, afterall he was the one with the medical degree, but I came to realize he was totally right and I can't even begin to tell you how much I respect him for leading me down this path. I had to do what I felt was right for me; and that's exactly what I did - with his help, of course.
Do your research, talk to lots of doctors if you feel the need to, but ultimately you should decide what will work best for you. I always tell AN patients that they should "go with their gut" in deciding which treatment and which doctor(s) to go with. IMO confidence, as well as a comfort-level, in your treatment choice and your doctor is vital. As Robyn said "listen to your heart".
Jan