i was thinking of this forum as this day approached. and had a few things i thought id bring up.
1. Thank you so much to Jim Scott, Jan, and our Global Co-ordinator Phyl.........you three have been wonderful inputs to me as have lots of others for sure but you 3 lead the way............
2. i thought maybe some newer folks might want to know some of the history of these AN tumors from a 1 year perspective.........being an ex Chemical Engineer and now a teacher at a local 2 yr college i know only one way to do this.....so here goes.............
Why did i do this?well in June 07 i finally had insurance so i went to a ENT Dr. to see if a hearing aid would help me on the rt side. He sent me to get an MRI after we found i had no hearing over there.........
Symptoms ?1. no hearing rt side
2. tinnitus over there
3. loss of balance especially at nite.......i had really hurt my shoulder twice by running into door jams at nite. saw them thought i moved over couldn't
4. some loss of mental capacity at nite too
What ENT and Neurosurgeons told me-----1. This is rarely life threatening surgery. in fact here at Houston Hermann Hosp. they have their own Operating room for AN's do 5 to 7 a week.
My An was almond shaped about 20 mm by 5 mm all over nerves 7 and 8. the facila and acoustic nerves.
2. there would , 75% , chance be some residual face problems that i didnt have now after surgery...
3. It was going to take 5 to 6 hours to do.
3. in 17 years they had not lost anyone due to death here in this surgery.
4, then they showed me and wife exactly where cut would be how with a model they would get it, how long i would be in hosp. (4 to 6 days) and the details of their 10 person team..........
5. they explained the halo device but i dont really grasp that one till after the surgery. it hurt lol
Post surgery what was the results?1. They got it all .
2. it was not cancerous ----95% + arent i was told
3. It took 5 + hours and they had a problem they asked me about. Seemed at 3 hours i started to come OUT of anesthesia.......they had to stop and put me under again and wanted to know if i remember coming to? no i didnt
4. pain management was a big deal to them and me.....we talked about it . i have always been relatively immune to pain meds. so other doses had to be worked out.
5. i was hooked up in ICU for 2 days. just water, fluids, and meds. including shots into stomach for some reason. didnt learn about those till later.
Post op visit with ENT surgeon 6 weeks later
1. we did i some balance tests i had b4 surgery.........there was some improvement not much
2. my rt eye lid wouldn't close . i had to use tape or soft pads taped over eye to sleep
3. rt lip and face had slipped , sagged a bit maybe 1/2 inch to an inch
4. i had very little strength. i attribute that to im 57 to begin with. and then ENT said this is MAJOR surgery , it will take one month per hour you are under b4 your stamina comes back. in my case much longer because of the re doing of the going under.
5. my dentures wouldn't fit because of the sag of face
Today ---1 year later1. eye closes
2. rt side only sags maybe 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch
3. balance tests show me much better still run into stuff at nite
4. eye is healthy but not ok.......... face slippage has affected eye focus
5. dentures are a work in progress it seems some days good some not so....
Bottom line ................i am glad i had the surgery. the tumor is gone (1 year mri results soon) it wasnt cancerous, and the rest of it is just irritating since those 2.......
one of thesse days i might ebven share enough to not be a newbie here LOL
i hope this helped someone
