Hi all!
I'm a 63-year-old man who has enjoyed good health for all of my life...until now.
I was diagnosed with a 4.5 cm AN on May 10th, following an MRI scan ordered by my primary physician after I had foolishly ignored various symptoms, including a total (but very gradual) hearing loss in my left ear, and finally made an appointment with the doctor. On receiving the news,
"O.K., I can do this" was my thinking at that time. After a few unproductive surgical consults, I selected a neurosurgeon (Dr. Issac Goodrich of New Haven, CT) to perform the operation. He has years of experience removing AN's and is fairly conservative in his approach, which works for me. We set a date of June 1 for the surgery, then he moved it up to May 24th. Now, the plot thickens. During the pre-op tests, I had a CT scan of my chest and it showed a tumor on my liver.
Oh no! Dr. Goodrich immediately canceled the AN surgery until that 'issue' could be resolved. I was referred to an oncologist and it was obvious to me that he strongly suspected that I had cancer. Things looked grim and my AN was now far less important than a week before. Last week (23rd) I underwent a biopsy of the 'dark spot' on my liver and on Thursday my wife and I received the good news: the 'tumor' was really a hemangioma, which is benign. Whew! What a week.
Friday, we again met with Dr.Goodrich and while he was elated over the news of 'no cancer', he candidly admitted that he thought I was going to be declared to have terminal liver/lung cancer and he would have had no good reason to put me through the AN surgery if I only had a year - or less - to live. Fortunately, that is not the case and we happily re-scheduled surgery for the removal of my AN for Wedenesday, June 7th, at the Hospital of Saint Raphael in New Haven, CT.
While I'm a bit apprehensive about the possible negative after-effects of the upcoming surgery, I have a positive attitude, am in good general health and trust in the Lord to see me through it all. My wife and (adult) son are absolute rocks and have given me as much help and support as any man could wish. Right now, this is as good as it gets until I actually have the tumor removed and can start down the road to recovery, which I pray will be rapid and complete.
The one positive aspect of last weeks emotional trauma - when I thought I might not see another year - is that , while the AN surgery is serious and pretty much consumes my life right now, I have complete faith that I will certainly survive it and come out in much better shape, eventually, if not immediately. I am grateful for the information I've been able to garner from this site - and this forum - and I am encouraged by the good attitude most of the AN sufferers posting here have - and which I share.
Informationally: my surgeon, using the retrosigmoid method of removal, intends to take the tumor down to about 2 or 2.5 cm and avoid the vital facial nerves. He will shrink the remainder with radiation, 3 or 4 months post-op. It's a conservative approach that I completely approve of as nerve damage and post-op problems are my biggest concern. Even with the angst my upcoming AN surgery holds, it still beats having a malignant liver or lung tumor. I'm good with that.
