I had my first post-gamma knife checkup today. I had my 1.3 cm AN irradiated on Sept 10, 2004 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical center. Today's MRI showed that the AN is exactly the same size as before. However, the good news is that the inside of the tumor is dark black. This means that the gadolinium was not absorbed by the tumor. Its blood support system is thus impaired and the tumor will likely shrink in the next few years.
I had a good talk with Dr. Lunsford. I have almost complete hearing loss in my AN ear. The loss occurred about two months after the GK procedure. He told me that the loss was likely caused by tumor growth after the GK. He said that I have only a 10% chance of recovering any hearing. A conventional hearing aid will be no help. He talked about something called a CROS. He told me that this is very expensive and I should rent one to try it first. About 65% of the people who try this don't like it and take it back! Does anyone on this board have any info on CROS??
Dr. Lunsford also told me that there is little chance that I will have any other problems. The chance of facial paralysis is less than 1%. The chance of vertigo is very low since I did not have vertigo before the GK treatment. He thinks that except for the hearing loss I should not have any other problems. In fact he wants me to skip my next six month MRI and have my next one a year from now. All in all I guess it was a good report.
