After treatment, can I resume a normal life?

[ncdude]

Just wondering about some things.  I go for my MRI tomorrow, so it will be a few days before the paper report comes back.

Does surgery always mean (more) hearing loss?
Which is better, gamma knife, radiation, or surgery?
Can I resume a normal life afterwards?  I mean, return to work, hear as well as I did before treatment, etc.

Thanks.

ncdude

[ncdude]

Is it always given that you lose your hearing after surgery?  Both of my ears are still above normal, and I'd hate to lose the hearing in my right ear.  Thanks.

ncdude (yep, in North Carolina)

[cookiesecond]

It depends on which kind of surgery you have. I had the translab approach and lost the rest of my hearing. I had already lost 95+% The type of surgery depends on your individual situation(location and size of tumor). I had my surgery at Duke Health Raliegh 8-2-05. My surgical team was Drs Fukushima, Cunningham and  McElveen. They were great!!!

[becknell]

No, nc dude, it is NOT always given that you lose your hearing after surgery. That depends on the size of the tumor. If the tumor is small and you choose surgery, it is possible that your doctor may be able to save the hearing. If you choose radiosurgery, there is probably a higher chance that the doctor will be able to save hearing. For a large tumor, saving the hearing may be difficult if not impossible. But you have not been diagnosed with an AN, is that correct? If you do have good hearing, there is a good chance that you either don't have an An — that the problem is something else, which it could be — or that if you do have an AN, it is small and hasn't yet destroyed your hearing.

[wind6]

I had perfect hearing before surgery and it turned out my tumor was actually growing on my facial nerve..just above my acoustic nerve. You could'nt see the point of origin on my MRI. As of right now I still have no hearing in the tumor side. My doctors are'nt sure why because my acoustic nerve was undamaged. I hope and pray it will resolve itself but if not, I will deal with it and be grateful that surgery saved my life.
Best of luck to you and I hope you have a great outcome.          Sherry