I entered Dallas in the search box in the upper right corner and came across this post from 2014 from a member called TSS. I pasted it below:
TSS
Re: Experiences with Doctors in Dallas, TX Area
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2014, 03:38:31 pm »
Quote
After consulting with Dr. Finn (neurosurgeon) and Dr. O'Conner (radiosurgeon) at Baylor downtown I elected CK with Dr. O'Conner. Neurosurgeon in so many words recommended radiation and that was the tiebreaker for me. I started out 2.5 CM last Summer and MRI in April ' 14 down to 2.0 (9 mos later); experience has been very satisfactory. Best of Luck!
If you enter TSS in the search box you can see all her posts. She was 49 yo and had a 2.5 cm AN that subsequently shrank to 1.9 cm following CK. I have also seen posts about Dr. Bruce E Mickey in Dallas. You might also want to consider getting a second opinion in Houston as many posters on the forum have had excellent treatment there. On another note, because of your age and tumor size, you are a good candidate for radiosurgery. One of my friends had her 1.7 cm AN treated by Cyberknife 3 years ago. She was 68 at the time and is now 72. She had no significant side-effects from the treatment except one brief episode of facial spasms and that occurred only once. Her AN has shrunk in size and although she lost some hearing in the affected ear immediately after CK, she retains some hearing and it has actually improved over time.
I believe there is an AN support group in Dallas. You should consider going to one of their meetings so you can exchange treatment info with others in your city. I am sure you are a good candidate for Cyberknife and judging by what TSS posted, she had a good outcome. Since you are newly diagnosed, you might want to wait 6 months and get another MRI to see if the AN is actually growing. Luckily these little buggers tend to grow slowly and you have a little time to consider your options. If it is not growing, you may want to wait it out a little bit depending on whether the AN is nearing the brain stem. What did the first group of doctors that you saw recommend?
