Overwhelming is exactly right. I was just like you, with almost total hearing loss in one ear. I was so afraid of treatment--any surgical approach and any of the radiation treatments just sounded almost like death sentences--I just decided I'd keep the tumors. Seemed logical at the time: my hearing was already gone in one ear, so what did I have to lose? Well, about two months after the hearing loss, the nerve damage started. Tingling on the right side of my face, numbness on the right half of my lip, etc.
So I finally made the call.
That wait wasn't the best thing for me, though. The tumor on my right side (I'm NF2, so I had a tumor on each side) was cystic and had gotten dangerously big. It could no longer be removed by the "easier" (according to me doc--not sure if that meant for him or for me) trans-lab approach, so I had to have the ret-sig surgery. This isn't meant to scare you, but I do want you to go ahead and make that call. Waiting will accomplish nothing good, and once the stress of making the decision is over, life really does get back to something pretty close to normal.
We're here for you, if we can help, but you really do need to call.
