ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => AN Issues => Topic started by: PatsFan on November 19, 2009, 03:26:05 pm
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I have been reading this board for sometime now as my brother 56 years old learned this summer he had an acoustic neuroma. He is less than 24 hours out of surgery as of right now. He was in surgery for almost nine hours yesterday. He was operated on at Mass General with Drs. Barker and McKenna and he is doing wonderful. As of right now they are all amazed how great everything went. He may even go home tomorrow or on Saturday, I guess there is a shortage of beds. They said they removed all the tumor. Of course, he is deaf on the one side. Anyway, we are all so thankful and I just wanted to acknowledge the wonderful doctors.
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Hi, Patsfan ~
Welcome - and thanks for joining us. I'm glad to learn that your brother is apparently doing well following his AN removal surgery. We would appreciate learning more about your brother's AN, i.e. size and type of surgery he had. I know that Mass General has a good reputation and Dr. McKenna and Dr. Barker are fairly well known on these forums. Many of our members have had these surgeons perform their AN removals. They both have solid reputations with AN patients in the northeast/New England area. Your brother was in good hands.
Jim
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Welcome to our little corner of the 'Net. I'm glad your brother is doing well after his surgery. Make sure everyone knows that the first 3 days don't count. After that, then healing will generally come slow and gradual. Remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. We call it a "journey" for a reason.
He's in great hands at Mass General. I've heard that name come up several times and always in a good way.
What kind of surgery did he have? Do you have any specifics on his particular tumor that you'd like to share? If you've been here for any length, then you know we run the gammut in sizes around here.
Slow and steady wins the race..
Regards,
Brian
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Hi PatsFan and welcome! MAJOR member of BoSox nation here ;D... and good to have you here.
Ah, fantastic hands... Barker and McKenna (MGH/MEEI). Too many for me to count that participate on these forums that had their surgical treatments with them (I was treated via radiation at Beth Israel Deaconess.... down the Storrow and around the Fenway bend!) :)
Please let your brother know that I send wellness and speedy recovery wishes to him.... and again, welcome you to the forums.
Phyl
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Hello again and thanks to all. I am not all too familiar with all the medical jargon. Though, I was on this board off and on and would pass information on to him. He had his mind made up about the surgery and did not really want to hear alot about all the complications that could occur. I believe it was his way of dealing with it. Anyway, I will be talking to my sister-in-law shortly this evening. He had the translab done. His tumor was 2cm (I think he said about the size of a quarter). Would that be right? I will be finding out more shortly. Any questions, I will try and answer.
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Hey, he's just like me, same size, same approach, same surgeons, same surgery length, same outcome, same length of stay (Wednesday to Saturday), same age (well, two years younger, but who's counting?). Congrats!
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PatsFan ~
Thanks, again, for filling in a few 'blanks'. 2 cm is considered to be a moderately-sized AN. Translab is a very well-known surgical approach to AN removals. Many of our members have successfully undergone the 'Translabyrinthine' procedure, which is quite popular with neurosurgeons performing AN removals. I'm pleased to learn from your posts that your brother is one of them.
Jim
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PatsFan .....
Just adding my welcome to this Forum. Thanks for sharing a success story about your brother. Hopefully he will also feel up to joining us in a few days (weeks ....). This is a tremendous support group and we are hear to listen and share.
Clarice
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It great to hear good news! Onward to a speedy recovery! Best wishes, Mickey
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Hi PatsFan,
Also adding my welcome to the forum.
Please pass on my well wishes to your brother for a speedy recovery.
Don
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Hi PatFan
I am always thrilled to hear another successful AN surgery story!! Please give your brother my best wishes for a good recovery. It sounds like he is off to a great start!
Erin
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Hello again,
I wrote on Thursday that my brother had translab surgery on Wednesday at Mass General. Believe it or not, he came home on Friday afternoon. The doctors are amazed at how well he is doing. They said he tied for the record on earliest release. I went to visit him last night at home, he is doing great. Walking around, no dizziness. He is even watching TV (in hospital he was watching, they said that it could take a couple of weeks for him to watch TV and focus). The doctor thinks that because his tumor was so slow growing that his body was already compensating for the balance issue over time, if that makes any sense. Also, he had already lost 85 percent of his hearing in that ear. His face on that side was a little swollen, other than that he looked the same. He was just taking tylenol and resting every few hours. I am amazed and he is also. We hope he continues feeling this good after having a 9 hour surgery.
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Great continued news! Those are the records we like to beat! Tell him not to push it even though he feels so good. He still just had major surgery and his body needs to heal. As for the balance being fine, this is not unusual for the brain to have already compensated and switched over to the good vestibular nerve on the other side. Everyone is different in this regard and glad this "recovery" part was already completed before surgery.
Again, congratulations and best wishes for continuing uneventful recovery.
Clarice
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Patsfan ~
Thanks for the update on your brother's fabulous recovery! It's always heartening to learn of these rapid recoveries from AN surgery. I enjoyed something similar. My doctor told my wife I was breaking all the records of recovery for his AN patients - and he had been performing AN surgery for 30 years! I just wanted to get my life back - and I did, just as your brother seems to be doing. Let him know that we're rooting for him and congratulate him on what appears to be a very successful surgery.
Jim
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this is great news..wishing you a continued speedy recovery !!!!
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Hi Patsfan,
Welcome to our group! It sounds like your brother is having a truly amazing recovery-- YAY for him!!! My AN was the same size, and although I had a great outcome, my recovery was not even as close to the spectacular recovery he is having. I hope things continue to go well and he is back to life as normal soon. If he finds being SSD (single sided deaf) is not for him, BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid) or Transear are both great options.
Best wishes,
Wendy
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Hey PatsFan-
Give your brother a big AttaBoy from down here in New Jersey. Sounds like he is on his way to a great recovery - just the kind we like to hear about!
Debbi