House Ear Clinic Doctors/Surgeons

[paul99]

Hello all. I was diagnosed with AN last year, and through research and after talking with a few doctors, I have decided to have microsurgery at the House Clinic in L.A. in about a month.  I have read a lot of positive things about the staff at the House Clinic, and I recently had a visit to talk to Dr. House, which was a pleasant experience.  For my surgery, I have Dr. Schwartz, Dr. House, and Dr. Stefan.  I was wondering if anyone had much experience with Dr. House, Stefan and Schwartz as a team. I am scheduled for middle fossa, and my hearing is pretty good in the affected ear, so I am hoping for of course successful tumor removal, facial nerve preservation, and "hopefully" preserving hearing if possible.  My tumor is very small (around 5 mm), but I know location also plays a role, and what nerve it is on, etc.  From what I can tell, everyone seems to have a pretty good experience with all the doctors at the House clinic.

Does anyone have any experience with these specific doctors (House, Schwartz, Stefan)?

Thanks very much for your help.

[Derek]

Hi Paul and welcome to the 'club'...

Can't help with your query re House but I am interested to learn why you decided upon microsurgery over radiosurgery and what prompted you to have early treatment rather than 'wait and watch'.

Regards

Derek

[vcschaub]

I had middle fossa surgery with Drs. Brackmann, Hitselberger and Stefan. As you can see from reading my previous posts as well as others, the teams at House are excellent. My hearing had deteriorated to 85% prior to surgery and post surgery it has stabilized at 76%. I had delayed facial weakness which is now almost resolved. My only remaining symptom is an eye that closes partially when I smile broadly and tears when I eat. That beats when the eye would not close or tear!!

[IAHeel]

Paul,

My wife had translab with Schwartz and Friedman. You could not be in a better place and good luck! Also, if you are at St Vincent, the staff there is really nice.

Fred Moore

[paul99]

Hi Derek,

I decided on microsurgery instead of radiosurgery mainly to remove the tumor and not have any scarring. I was worried that with radiosurgery, the tumor may still grow in the future, and if it did, it would be more difficult to remove if there was scarring from a previous radiosurgery.  I am 36 years old, and my tumor is relatively small, so I felt ok going the microsurgery route.  I just will feel better knowing that the tumor will be removed.  If I was older, like say in my 50's or so, then I might possibly elect to have the radiosurgery.

Also, the reason why i didn't want to "wait and watch" is because I have already lost my hearing twice in my affected ear. Luckily, I was able to get on a steroid called Prednisone and it relieved the inflammation on the nerver and I regained my hearing back.  I do not have all my hearing restored in the affected ear, but it is close to 90-95%. I cannot hear some of the very high frequencies any more, but other than that, it is normal.  I do have ringing in the ear from time to time also.  If I had not lost any hearing in my ear, I would probably wait and see if it grows, but I worry about having permanent hearing loss now if I just let it go, since I have already lost my hearing twice.

Hope this answers your questions.

Thanks,
Paul

[paul99]

BTW: Thanks for all of your responses so far. I really appreciate your replies.  It is great to hear the success stories from the AN removals. Very encouraging.

[Joef]

I was very happy with my treatment at House .. as for the doctors I can only talk about Stefan .. he was great! came to my room every day (all the doctors did!) (he did his rounds) and spent all the time I needed .. talked with me .. then he would spend time with my wife .. and when I ran into us at the cafe .. talked somemore... gets a thumbs up! 

[Desilu]

Hi Paul,

I had Dr. Stefan also. He's the Doc. that prescribes all your meds and makes sure they are working. Your other doctors, Schwartz and House will do the surgery. You will be in good hands.

I had middle fossa because my tumor was small and was able to retain 85% of my hearing in my AN ear. Other than my AN eye closing when I am yawning, I have no other side effects of the surgery.

You are young and will bounce back in no time. Please keep us posted on your progress.     Ann

[eugd]

I had DR. Schwartz and Freidman do my A.N. in December and I had great outcomes with hearing preservation, no headaches, and no balance issues. Just a small leak under the scalp that was resolved without surgery.  the best thing about the HEI they call you back when you have a problem withing an hour or two.  I live in NYC and that helps put alot of concerns to rest. 

[Quailruner]

I just had my surgery at HEI last month, and I am very happy I did.
The staff at HEI was great.
I am currently in the recovery mode for my facial weakness and dry eye, but everything else is doing very well.
I went through a battry of hearing tests 1 day prior to surgery at HEI seeing I was out-of-state prior to the operation.
The operation went smooth, I had Dr. Brackman, Dr Hitselber, Dr Kutz, and Dr Stefan.
Dr Stefan is real supportive, I have talked to him quit a few times post surgery.
All I can say is HEI has the best supporting and careing Dr's I have ever met.
Best of luck with the surgery, and keep thinking positive.

Regards,

Kenn A.

[kristin]

kenn...let me recommend a plug for your dry eye. i had middle fossa in april 05 and thought i was going to need to buy eye drops in bulk until i went to my eye doctor and he put a plug in my tear duct. wow! what a difference!

paul...i had brackmann, hitzelberger and stefan. i think everyone must have stefan. he was a good doctor, but kinda gave me the creeps. i thought his services were pretty expensive too.  he was the internal medicine doctor and fortunately i had a very quick recovery and didn't need to see him more than one time in the hospital and one time after being discharged from the hospital.  i wouldn't let my opinion stop you from going there. i'm totally happy w/ house ear clinic and st. vincent's medical center.

when is your surgery scheduled? are you having middle fossa for your small AN?

kristin in montana

[Crystal]

Hi Paul -- I had Schwartz, Luxford and Stefan, they are top notch.  So far I have had no complications at all and I go back to work next tuesday, after 2 months recovery.

You are in great hands.  Here is a re-cap of my Translab Surgery. 

http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=2737.0

Best of luck!

[flier58]

Hi Crystal,
I am so happy to see your post and the fact that you are doing well.  Your story is so important to all members of this (AN) family and I was following it since my own dx. of Sep,  2006.  I too had CK and for now I'm doing OK (minor, manageable issues) butI went into it knowing that there are failures.  I am sorry you had to go through surgery but your great recovery gave many of us peace of mind that there are still good chnces of good outcomes if radio fails.  thanks for your posts.
Flier58

[paul99]

Hi Kristen:

My surgery is scheduled for mid March with middle fossa.  It's great to hear of your experience with the House Clinic.

Thanks,
Paul

[paul99]

Hi Crystal,

Thanks for your article that describes your experience leading up to, during, and after your surgery. It was very enlightening, and I am happy to see that you are doing well after your surgery and your recovery.

I wish you well going forward.

Take care and God bless,
Paul