caption Deb where is the artical how do i get to it
   Pre-treatment? READ THIS!!
« on: Today at 11:06:32 AM »  ÂÂ
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I am referring to the S.A. Rutherford and A. T. King article: "What is the Best Option" published in the British Jounal of Neurosurgery, August 2005 article posted by arcteryx. Click on the link in the post . You need to download it to acrobat reader and print it out. I have been second guessing my decision to have surgery for my 1.2+ AN as opposed to radiation for almost three years. After reading this article, I really think I made the right decision based on my priority--which was saving my facial nerve over anything else.
The article IMO stresses that it's not a matter of "surgery over radiosurgery or radio therapy" but stresses that the outcome is more based on the skill and experience of the surgeon over radiosurgery or radiotherapy. My choice to have Dr. Hitselburger of House Ear Clinic, who has peel over 3000 ANs off facial nerves, do my surgery was the right one. He is referenced at least 4 times in the footnotes (87 of them) of this extensive article.
My interpretation of this article is that not all surgeons are alike and that there is a learning curve for AN surgery that can affect the outcome. Also referenced are clinics that are deemed "international centers of excellence" at resecting these tumors.
Surgery ain't for sissies, and I've never been much of a sissie! My interpretaion of this article gave me the notion that radiosurgery or radiotherapy gave me a greater risk for facial weakness or nerve damage than surgery by a doc at a center of excellence, and "Dr. Hits"
in particular. The surgeons at House work in pairs and one, monitoring the facial nerve exclusively. My surgery took 2 1/2 hours and according to Dr. Friedman, Dr. Hits's surgical partner, was "textbook." I was given a 60% chance of saving the residual hearing, which was pretty poor to begin with, but unfortunately That didn't happen, probably due to poor blood supply to the hearing nerve, which was left intact.
I also had pretty severe headaches for 3 years, which have subsided. I had hereditary migraines to begin with which were exacerbated by the trauma of surgery.
Today, I'm doing eally well except for an occaisional migraine. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym in under 36 minutes, and I'm back at work. I'm a little slower than I used to be at everything, and I'm a little wobbly in the dark and when I get off the treadmill the room spins for a few mintues, but my smile is intact as are is my eye function.
We all need to make decisions based upon our priorities. If you are pre-treatment, not matter what size you AN is, I urge you to download and read this article thoroughly. It seems to be the most current one out there.
Capt DebÂÂ
