Mike found out that he had a ~2cm AN in July 2012. We consulted with doctors in Omaha, NE (where we lived at the time), the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and at the House Clinic in Los Angeles, CA. We opted for Omaha because the doctors seemed confident they could remove the tumor. On Dec. 20, 2012 Mike had translab surgery in Omaha. He had a tough recovery and the left side of his face was temporarily paralyzed. He wore an eye chamber for 6-8 weeks because he couldn’t blink his left eye. He faithfully did facial and balance exercises and was 90% recovered within 5 months. We were devastated when his 3 month post op MRI showed the doctors only got ~10% of the tumor. The doctor said he was surprised, gave no solid explanation and recommended immediate radiation as Mike’s tumor was measured ~2.1cm. We decided against radiation because Mike’s facial nerve still needed time to recover. 8 months post op, we were in the middle of a move to Dallas TX and Mike was starting a new job, our plan was to have Gamma Knife done at Southwest Medical Center in Dallas. Mike’s 9 month post op the MRI showed the tumor was now 2.6cm.
As we continue to work with our Dallas Drs. over the next several weeks/months we felt the tumor was growing too aggressively and had gotten too large for Gamma Knife. After further discussions with all Drs. involved we decided the best option was to have another surgery and have the tumor removed. We felt the drs in Dallas main goal was to remove the tumor and they expected some facial paralysis issues, whereas the drs at the House Clinic would remove most of the tumor and preserve the facial nerve and would hope the remaining tumor would die and if it did grow, we could control the growth with Gamma Knife. After much thought, research and prayer, we opted for the House Clinic and set a surgery date of 1-23-14. The House Clinic doctors asked for an MRI the first week of January and it showed the tumor was 3.1cm Mike developed headaches, balance issues, the left side of his face felt numb, his taste buds went haywire and he felt like he had motion sickness all of the time starting in December. We flew to LA and were thrilled with the treatment of Dr. Marc Schwartz and Dr. William Slattery at the House Clinic. Dr. Schwartz said the tumor had grown to 3.4cm and they were able to remove 98% of the tumor. We saw a post op MRI and couldn’t even see the tumor. The surgery took 9 hours because there was so much scar tissue from the last surgery. I could not believe how Mike’s recovery was so much better than his recovery from his 12-20-12 surgery. On day 2 his face looked better than it had in 20 months. We are 3 weeks post op and Mike is back to work and walking in the treadmill every day. He is still tired from surgery, but feels great and is doing so much better than I anticipated. We will have a MRI done in 6 months.
Marilyn
