I know you don't want to hear this, but I met a young lady at the MM gathering at Kansas City in 2012 who had surgeries twice on one side. I don't know all the details, but when I met her, she was about 1 -2 yrs post 3rd surgery and doing very well (back in college).  Consider the alternative.   
Hope the dr's had good news for you.  Keep us posted!!

Hello Erika

I'm very sorry to hear of your plight.  I'm sure you're learning as much as you can, as Moyamoya is such a rare condition many doctors aren't aware of it.  I'm a 77 year old father of a boy who recently had two surgeries at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tn. by an excellent surgeon Dr. Robert Mericle, (615-320-0007).  He did both sides, and I check in here every so often to see what's up.  My son was 40 when he had a stroke last year, while walking around Walmart in Lake Worth, Fl..  He made it home somehow, but because he lives alone, it wasn't until two days later he made it over to the hospital.  Previously we were concerned with his arrythmic  heart beats, and also he had recently lost some vision in his left eye, which remained unexplained. 

The surgeries have been very beneficial, and his terrible headaches have diminished considerably.  But he is a very emotional guy and he gets worked up over things he can't control.  The first surgery was in June, and the second was done on Dec 2nd, 2013, so we're waiting now to see how the recovery goes.  He's working part time, and calls me frequently with car problems and such.  He is acutely aware of his delicate situation, so he's changed his diet, quit smoking everything, and quit drinking, so we are very optimistic that he will continue recovering.

He lives in Lake Worth, but we decided from what we had read here and other places about Dr. Mericle in Nashville, that he should do the operations.  Our second choice would have been to talk with the surgeon at Stanford Univ, who is reported to be excellent too.  Likely there are excellent surgeons in Miami too.

If we can be of any help to you let us know.  Also, regarding the title of this forum you might want to examine this:

(Google: Dr. Alan Shackelford and Charlotte Figge)

This is a report by Dr. Alan Shackelford of the evolving role of cannabis in medicine.  It's very enlightening.

Best of luck to you

charles coryn, lancing, tn.