Just updating.  Today 5/13/2026 marks one year post-op for me.  Things have gone very well for me this past year.  I quickly regained balance, dizziness is gone, headaches which used to be a 24 hour a day thing are now only occasional and a lot milder than before.  I used to think that regaining my hearing would be important, well I am single side deaf, and I can honestly say it doesn't bother me.  If I had known how much better I would feel I wouldn't have placed such a high value on hearing out of the left side again.   I even set a new personal best 5k time this past year, since I no longer have balance issues.   This past year since my surgery has actually been the best year I've had in a long time.   I hope it continues, and that the tumor is truly gone forever now.   Thank you to all my friends on here for being there when things were very dark.   I really wonder sometimes how people without a support system make it through mental health wise.   

Hi Mark - you are right! I bought an extra pillow to relive pain plus I got a pillow with a hole in the middle for a while for that side (in the end I didnt really use it much). The elevation now with my extra pillow has made a bg difference- plus I got rid of my latex pillow as way too firm which increased the pressure. In fact CatGPT suggested the same- that the pressure from lying on firm pillow and less elevated was the cause. Have had no pain at all past two weeks!

Thanks Dan! Actually its gone away at the moment and I feel great! Sleeping deeply on just a hot magnesium bath before bed (was on medical cannabis which kind of helped). Anyway will let you know how MRI goes- at least the audiology report was excellent.

Hey Dan- am abt to get my 7th MRI after CK and will post. Hearing stable no change. But I continue to get geniculate neuralgia and it affects my sleep. I think maybe an artery compressing nervus intermdius in ear. like trigeminal pain. nyway will report back after MRI. Havent had a goodnights sleep for 7 years. No pain in day- only when lying on that side.

Hey Dan,

Glad you had a positive follow-up.  I too had a tough time before treatment partially because of the lack of positive results being posted. I'm glad you stuck around on here.  I knew as soon as I found this website that I was going to stick around after treatment and try to be a  positive influence for all those scared people who were searching for answers like I was.  There are some people on here who have become kind of like an extended family because of our shared experiences.  Although I have never met any of them, and I may never meet any of you in person, I feel like we are all friends, brought together through an unfortunate coincidence.  I value each one of you, and even though there are relatively few posts made on this forum, I stop by almost every day to check in and see if anyone has questions or follow-up reports.   Stay well my friend.