Hi all,
I live in Israel and was diagnosed with AN in August 2015 (3 months ago).
My tumor was big (3.3 Cm X 2.4 Cm) and pushed parts of the brain, including the brain stem.
After doing a lot of research and consulting with people in this forum, I have decided to undergo the surgery in Europe.
I am now 3 weeks post-op and I my surgery was definitely a success.
I am posting this post for all my fellow Europeans who are searching for information about surgeons in Europe.
I underwent the surgery at the INI- International Neuroscience inst. in Hannover, Germany.
My surgeon was Prof. Helmut Bertalanffy who is not only a genius and one of the 3 best neurosurgeons in Europe, he is also a very warm and kind man who sees the person behind the patient.
I could not recommend him enough. He is really amazing.
The INI is a private hospital dedicated for brain surgeries, The concept behind this hospital is that once the surgery is over the rehab starts and lasts for 12 days until discharge.
I am now back in Israel, doing really good considering someone who just had a brain surgery 3 weeks ago.
In my case the surgery took about 10 hours. This hospital does the retrosigmoid approaoch with very successful results for almost all people.
I don't remember much about the first 72 hours but I hear the stories. Apparently I was in a lot of pain but after 72 hours things started to get better every day.
My facial nerve is intact which is just amazing and I lost only 50% of my hearing on my left ear. I have no balance issues, no vertigo and most of the time now there is no pain.
My main problems are fatigue and weakness. Both are getting better every day. I sleep a lot and walk very slowly. I get tired easily so I try to take it easy and not push myself too much (which is hard for a mother of 3 kids).
The other issue is the double vision. The tumor was stuck to nerve no. 8 (or 7 ? or 6 ?) which moves the eye from side to side. They took the whole tumor out but the nerve was pushed so much it will take time for it to heal. It was not damaged so they are optimistic that things will go back to normal in time, but it might take weeks or months for both my eyes to "talk to each other".
I have an eye patch which I move from one eye to the other every 2 hours (I can read and write with one eye) and I do excises for my eyes. I started with 30% movement , now I have 80% on my left eye so I guess its getting better.
Mostly, I am very grateful. For everyone who helped, for the doctors and the amazing staff in the INI, for my family and friends and for my surgery results which are much more then I ever expected.
I am starting now the recovery and healing and hope to go back to my normal life in a few months.
I would be more then happy to help anyone who lives in Europe and needs information or support.
