Hello,
I'm new to this forum and I'm nervous. Since sometime in October 2017, I thought I had an ear infection. I had pain, pressure, fullness and hearing loss. I didn't go to the dr. right away because I thought it would go away. Fast forward to December 2017, when I finally went to a clinic only to be told that I had and ear infection and was prescribed antibiotics. I was advised then to see an ENT since this was not my first ear infection, but was my third round with antibiotics. On January 16th of 2018, I was diagnosed with AN after having a MRI. I was told that my tumor is small, about 4.5 - 5mm; however, I'm not able to get a lot of information about this condition. I saw a specialist today who, after bombarding me with a lot of talk, asked me if I had to make a choice today, what option would I choose. I was surprised at his reaction when I replied "it's a brain tumor and I want it out." He chuckled a little and said, "you'd want to go through surgery and the recovery time for something that's so small?" I have to admit, I was in shock and confused and trying to make sense of things since all of this is extremely new for me, when I told him that I didn't know. Anyway, I do have an appt. with a radiologist and a neurosurgeon next week. What can I expect with this condition? Would I be a candidate for a hearing aid? Has anyone ever had surgery to remove a small AN? If not, what were the options people took? Where do people find support when dealing with this? I don't have the support of family, so I'm dealing with this alone. I've had two hearing tests done - the first was done on 12/26/17, the second done on 1/16/18, the second showed a decrease in hearing, but both still put me in the "mild" loss category. Could this be an indication of how the tumor is growing? Sorry for all of the questions, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this entire situation. To be honest, from diagnosis until now, these past 10 days have been the wildest roller coaster ride I've ever been on.
Thanks
