Vestibular Evaluation

[lrobie]

On April 9th, I am scheduled for a vestibular evaluation at UPMC.  The neurosurgeon I saw locally a few weeks back suggested that I get this done first and then have a GK consult with Dr. Lunsford.  I'm not one to call and ask questions, so I was hoping that someone here might be able to make some sense of this.  What does the vestibular evaluation have to do with radiation?  If I've already lost the function of my vestibular nerve on the AN side, will it make me a better or worse candidate for radiation?  If they say that the vestibular nerve is non-functioning and I'm okay for radiation, wouldn't you think they would be concerned with my facial nerve and how it would react to radiation?

Thanks,

Lisa

P.S.  I know I've put out a lot of questions today.  Only one more to go...

[Ned]

Just my opinion, they need a base line to understand how much your balance has been affected so future studies can determine if balance is improving or declining.  The only reason I suspect this is because I am having  the same test, 9 years post treatment to determine current status of balance.

[lrobie]

I had my vestibular evaluation on Monday.  Yes, it made me very dizzy!  The doctor's conclusion is that the dizziness is caused by the AN.  I pretty much knew that. He said that I still have vestibular function on my left side.  He said we have two vestibular nerves on each side of the brain.  He said that the bottom vestibular nerve isn't communicating with the brain, but the top one still is.  That being said, my right side hasn't had to compensate.  I was hoping that it had already compensated so that if the nerve is cut during surgery, I wouldn't have the dizziness and balance problems as bad. 

Lisa

[Ned]

It is confusing. I was never told my balance problems might return at times worse than I experienced pre treatment.  I was told that my goos side balance nerve would compensate and take over. Well, not necessarily so, because my AN side balance nerve is still sporadicly communicationg, my good balance nerve can't take over.  With micro surgery, especially translab, they excise the balance and hearing nerves.  I would question your doc regarding post treatment balance issues and what do others do if it creates problems.  I am discovering that there are more questions than answers with post radiation balance issues. I get one answer from my ENT and a complete different answer from another major treatment center.  Reminds me of the days prior to choosing treatment,  everyone pumps the treatment they do and slams other options.