post of question

[tenai98]

If I have AN ( will be finding out this week the results of MRI) how long does one have to wait to fly if surgery is chosen?  I see by reading some posting that the AN can grow a little while waiting for surgery.  I have a six week vacation coming up in Mexico.  I fly out Jan 3 and return feb 14/08...Can one fly if radiation is chosen?? 

[HeadCase2]

Hello tenai98,
  Hopefully your MRI will be negative for AN.  But to answer some of your guestions, if you pick surgery as an AN treatment, the wait is usually dependent on the schedules of the Skull Base Surgery team.  The skills of these highly trained people are in demand, and trying to assemble several of them for the same time can take a while.  It's not uncommon to take 2 or 3 months between diagnosis and surgery.  This is usually OK since AN is almost always slow growing (averag 2m/year).  And it's not unusual for the schedule to slip a week or so if emergency cases require the surgeon's skills.  For really large tumors that may be pushing on critical brain structures, teams are more likely to schedule the patient sooner for surgery.  On the flying guestion, there have been a few threads on this forum about that.  There's one at http://anausa.org/forum/index.php?topic=6524.0
  I see you know about the surgical or radiosurgical options.  And the third option is "watch and wait" to see if the AN is growing, and how fast.  The watch and wait option can give you more time to consider all your options, and is reasonable unless you have a large AN that may be compromising brain structures.
  Again, hopefully you don't have AN.  But if you do, you'll find a lot of information and patient experiences on this forum.
Regards,
  Rob

[Jim Scott]

tenai98:

Airplane cabins are pressurized so flying should not be an issue pre or post surgery.  Many surgical AN patients fly to and from their surgery site with no complications.  To my knowledge, radiation treatments should not prevent you from flying.  To be realistic, these are questions you should ask your doctor to get a medically credible answer that you can trust. 

Frankly, I hope your MRI doesn't show that you have an acoustic neuroma - making these issues moot.  Let us know.

Jim

[Kaybo]

tenai98~
WOW!!  SIX weeks of vacation in Mexico - can I come?  I'll even take care of you - it's gotta be easier than 3 little curly girlies!!   

I hope that you don't have a tumor, but unless it is really big, you should be able to wait until after your surgery.  Of course, I am no doctor...I'd definitely go with their recommendation!

K