I would like to share my experience with you and hope it will help someone. I am not an English native speaker, please bear with my English.
My 32 years old birthday gift is a confirmed diagnosis of acoustic neuroma on the left side of my brain, 3.1cm*2.8cm, while I was 35 weeks pregnant. Since then, my husband and I got many many help and support from this forum. We really appreciate that. We decide to travel from NJ to California for the surgery. The tumor was removed (translab) by Dr. Friedman and Dr. Schwartz at House Clinic at the end of March 2011. I cannot say enough good words about them.
The outcome is as expected, just as what doctors told me before the surgery, except I have no or very little tears generated from my left eye. No facial problem, very minimum facial numbness, no headache, no problem closing left eye. My baby is very healthy. My balance was back to normal few weeks after the surgery. I had double-vision before the surgery, which was much worse after the surgery, but disappeared about 10 weeks later. I need to put eye drops every 3-4 hours a day, but I feel that’s nothing comparing to the large tumor I had. I am very happy with the results. I will do 1 year follow-up MRI next week. Hope everything is fine.
House clinic is out of my insurance network. My insurance has the out of network coverage, but I need to be responsible for the amount beyond ‘reasonable and customary’. House clinic help claim the cost from my insurance company and end up I only need to pay minimum of the bill. Hope this is helpful for someone consider going there for the surgery.
I feel I am really lucky. I had a very good OB and neurologist, who helped me to find this tumor by MRI. I was told later by other doctors that not many doctors would recommend a MRI to 35 weeks pregnant woman with only very minimum symptoms (3 episodes of double-vision, last few secods to minutes, ear ringing). According to my OB, any bad things could happen if I virginally deliver the baby without knowing this large tumor in brain. I am lucky that I had a wonderful husband. My parents and in-laws travel to US help us take care the baby. Thanks for all of them.
Life changed a lot since the surgery, in a good and better way.
