I have just joined the forum and noticed that many of you get treated at the same places, House, Pittsburgh, so I was wondering if I made the correct treatment choice.
A bit of background, starting only two weeks ago i have had increasingly severe imbalance problems, strange noises in my right ear, numbness on my entire right side, so i went to my PCP 10 days ago - she sent me to the ER, I went to see an ENT, none of them offered any diagnosis and so I went to the neurologist department at a nearby hospital (I work in the Texas Medical Center, in Houston) and they couldn't give me an appointment for three months, so i went back to a different ER last Thursday and convinced them to let me see a neurologist and do an MRI. They did an MRI and found a 2cm by 1.5cm AN. That hospital (which does have an excellent reputation in general) checked me into their neurosurgery ward and wanted to do the AN surgery immediately, so I discharged myself and got an appointment the same day to see the relevant expert at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. I was told i had the tumor at midnight and met with the surgeons at MD Anderson the next morning, after getting no sleep due to brain tumor panic, so I didn't really go into the appointment prepared to ask all the best questions.
I was really impressed with the surgeons (Dr DaMonte and Dr Gigley (auditory surgeon who does the surgery alongside Dr. DaMonte)) and DaMonte has an excellent reputation among neurosurgeons nationally (I was told this by a few of my NS friends elsewhere in the country, although i dont know about their AN surgery skills specifically). Dr. DaMonte and Gigley said that in over 100 AN surgeries that they have done, that none of their patients have been left with facial paralysis (my biggest concern). Is this number of AN surgeries too low for them to be excellent surgeons? or is it reasonable? They stimulate the facial nerve during the operation so that they know where it is. i was feeling really comfortable with my decision to go with them and am scheduled for surgery in a week (i work at MD Anderson and they take care of their employees really well. i.e. see us fast). MD Anderson is voted every year to be the best Cancer Hospital (for cancer in general) in America, so I just assumed that it would be one of the best places for AN surgery.
However, when i joined your forum this morning i was surprised to find that there are places like House that only specialize in AN surgery, and it also seemed like none of you got your surgery at MD Anderson, and so I would like to ask those of you that have done the research into AN surgeons that I clearly didnt do, if any of you had included MD Anderson in your comparisons for AN surgery and how it ranked? Also, what was your main criteria for choosing somewhere like House? Was it because they have done so many of these operations that they clearly must be very skilled? Or are there real statistics out there on success rates for different surgeons? If so, how do I find those statistics? Are there any make or break questions that I should ask my surgeons to ascertain if they really are among the best for AN surgery before it is too late? I really feel quite debilitated by these symptoms at present (I fell down on the floor, from a standing position, yesterday at work) - I have to hold down a very high pressure job where i work 12 hours a day, as well as having 8 year old triplets (I am a 43 year old female), so I want to get the surgery done as soon as possible so that I can try to get back to being more functional again. I am prepared to lose my hearing, however, would prefer not to get the facial paralysis and blinking complications.
Thanks for your help, i really appreciate it. If any of you did go to MD Anderson for AN surgery I would love to hear from you, as i have some specific questions also about what to expect with the recovery, how much hair do they shave off etc.
