I had my followup MRI a little over a year after the first one. The first one, to summarize, mentioned an intracochlear schwannoma as the cause of my deafness on my left side. I had no insurance at the time so I relief on a mail-in diagnosis from Dr. Slatterly at House Clinic to confirm things.
The followup MRI showed signs of a second "enhancement" this time in the vestibular region. That terrified me, from the moment the MRI technicians mentioned "taking a few extra pictures" to the doctor handling the case telling me to go to the hospital immediately if I had facial weakness or difficulty walking.
The ENT I saw locally said, rather rudely, to do nothing and to not worry about it, after all that concern before that from other people. I mailed a second copy of the MRI to the House Clinic, and was told far more politely to "wait and see". I was also told that because the first tumor "stabilized" and didn't seem to get larger that this is a good sign, even with the second growth in the vestibular region.
I'm frightened because in recent weeks I've had noticably more difficulty walking or maintaining balance. I CAN walk, but it's roughly as stable as that dizzy sensation one gets after a few drinks. Standing on one foot is very difficult, moreso than before, and even though I've had both the clinic and that ENT say to wait and see and wait another year for another MRI, I wonder if I should do more, ask more questions, somehow do something more about this.
I have medi-cal and medicare coverage through disability, for this and unrelated reasons as well. I have posted here before but it's been a while. I suppose I just needed to express my fears and ask people who have been here what I should do.
