3 month followup post surgery - Dr Sisti NYC

[Eddie]

Hi guys,

it's been over 3 months since i had surgery (December 8th) for my 2.4 X 2.4 x 2.2 cm AN (grew to about 3cm on date of surgery). Just want to give out some post-op updates for those who is wondering about results after surgery. (Here is a recap: I'm 33 years old male, had surgery at NYP by Dr Sisit via retrosigmoid. Surgery Tuesday 12/8/15, 1 day in ICU, 3 days in regular hospital - Home on 12/11/15 Symptoms before surgery: Tinnitus, facial numbness when sleeping)

-I'm back to normal life routines, i had my gym restrictions lifted about 1 month ago and I'm weightlifting about 70-80% of what i use to lift in terms of heavy weights. I still get dizzy from certain exercises that i put a lot of strain on such as pull-ups or heavy squatting/dead lifting, so do less repetition of it.
-I been back to full time work since the last week of January, and had no problems adjusting back to the 8-9 hour work days. I usually go to the gym during my lunch break or take long walks to make sure I'm staying active.
-I've been completely off medication since January including tylenol/aleve (i think i have a high tolerance to pain so i never needed much pain killers in the first place.)
-I retained about 50% hearing in my surgery side ear, the fullness went away about 2 months after surgery and now when i listen to music it just sounds muffled. I can still make out voices and make out words, but if its just a lower volume.
-No facial paralysis, and tumor was expected to be 99.99% removal - i will have my first follow up MRI scan in June.
-Dizziness has improved with each day. I use to get dizzy from tilting my head down from taking a shower, and now i don't. I still get a little dizzy from walking and looking far ahead. For example if i'm walking in the street and i look straight (about 5-6 blocks ahead in NYC) i will get a little dizzy. So now i tend to look not as far and everything is fine.
-Balance is back to normal (i think). I can run straight on a treadmill at jogging pace.
-The incision area has fully healed. The scar is still noticeable and when i touch the surgery site i can hardly feel any difference from my good side.


All in all, I'm very grateful for the outcome and highly recommend Dr Sisti. If anyone has any questions regarding my experience with the surgery, feel free to message me!

[ANGuy]

Good deal!

As far as light-headedness when doing squats and dead lifts, that is not from your AN.  I was talking about it the other day with a young guy at my gym and he says he can never do more than 6 reps, usually 4, before getting light-headed.  He said it's due to the extreme full body exertion from exercises like that.  You've got darn near every muscle in your body maxed out at the same time and it's going to give you a head-rush.

Drop the weight down and you'll get more reps before you get loopy.  Or, do what I do, high effort and only 4 reps with lots of sets to get the reps you want.