Date is set for surgery:)

[gingerbread6]

Hi Bren,

I want to wish you well with your upcoming surgery. I too have my date set, it's December 28th in Boston at Brigham and Women's with Dr. Peter Black. I'll be following in your footsteps. I thank God that I found this forum and this wonderful group of caring, supportive people. I had the privilege to meet a lot of fellow an'ers recently at a brunch held in Worcester, Ma. a few weeks ago. I got valuable first hand information from them. I also went to a support group meeting with other fellow an'ers the month before. The information I got from people helped me out so much in reaching my decision.

I feel the same as you. I wish the surgery date was sooner. I think I'm driving my husband nuts too!! This thing seems to have a way of consuming you! Luckily we have set our dates and we will get thru this and move on.

Take care,

Gingerbread6

[Sobes]

Hi Gb6, (hope that's ok?)

 So nice to meet you here!! We will have to be sure to stay in touch during our recovery! We can be a great support for each other I will say many prayers for you and will have you in my thoughts as you continue your journey! Isn't this a wonderful forum/place?! Can you imagine going through this without it...the support...goodness...I sure can't! I am here almost daily if you need to talk I enjoy it...would love to hear your AN story!

Bren~

[loose screws (tightened)]

                          - Is it possible that I am creating almost a "placebo" effect...thinking things are or have gotten worse just knowing it's there? 
                 OR
                          - Could the tumor actually be growing a little?

         

Hi Bren, I've asked myself this question. I think your looking for things that you normally wouldn't pay much attention to. I'm guilty of this also. My middle fossa is the 16th, 9 more days to go. As Tom Petty says the waiting is the hardest part.

I know it's practically impossible but you just got to keep yourself busy with other things. I find spending a lot of time with toddlers works the best. There in a whole other world then we are. It's a good place to go.

Congrats on your date.
Mike

[sgerrard]

There seems to be two groups of people in this topic. Some of the old hands, who I recognize and feel like I have known for years, and a group of newbies all headed for surgery in the coming days. Since I have said hello to none of the newbies, I will do so now.

Bren, Lyn, Jay, Gingerbread6, and Mike, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined us. Best wishes on all your upcoming surgery dates. Despite not posting in any of your topics so far, I have been reading them. Honestly. You all sound like perfectly normal people having perfectly normal reactions to being scheduled for brain surgery.

As for the old hands, hello to you lot too. 

Steve

[jaylogs]

Thanks for the hello Steve, but you did sort of greet me at some point there a little ways back: I was the one whose radiology report indicated my AN was 8cm, not 8mm...one of the happier mistakes for sure!   Anyways Brenda, I guess my AN story is pretty much similar to everyone elses. I have had tinnitus in left ear for a few years now. But more recently, since the first of the year, I've noticed my hearing getting worse in that ear.  And then out of the blue I had a couple of bad days of dizzyness so I decided to go see an ENT doctor.  He did the usual checks, did an audiogram and found my hi freq's were pretty much shot.  So he said I could benefit from a hearing aid but wanted me to do an MRI just to rule out any tumors...imagine his surprise when I did show up with one!  It's funny, because he's basically a newbie doctor himself, I was his first ever AN diagnosis. It was nice to having to jump through a bunch of hoops to arrive at this point (i've read so many stories of this happening).  So now, as you know, I am set for Dec 9th to get this thing out of my head. I still have little moments of dizzyness. Sometimes it gets worse like I stood up too fast. The tinnitus screams in my head a lot and of course the hearing is so so. I made the decision to go middle fossa just for the fact I'd like to retain whatever hearing I can. I won't be too surprised if this doesn't work, based on feedback from a lot of people on here. But i'll be the hands of the infamous Brackmann/Scwartz team so if it can be saved, I have a good shot with those guys.  And that...is my AN story!   Take care!
Jay

[sgerrard]

I was the one whose radiology report indicated my AN was 8cm, not 8mm...one of the happier mistakes for sure!  

I do remember that! 

Steve

[gingerbread6]

Hi Bren,

Yes, we will be a great support for each other, and our fellow pre surgery an'ers too.  To answer your quesion, I found my "an"completely by accident, if that makes any sense to you. I work at a local country club as a waitress and I couldn't hear my co-workers who were standing to my right! They jokingly told me to get my ears checked. I was also having trouble hearing conversations of the phone.  I made an appt. with my GP and she didn't see any signs of an ear infection or blockage and told me that I was too young for age related deafness. Long story short, she sent me to an ENT who diagnosed my an. I felt like I was hit by a truck when he told me the news. The word "benign" stuck in my head, at least it isn't malignant I told myself. But he emphasized that I needed to follow up on it and not let it go. The rest is history..

I got two opinions in Boston and chose Dr. Peter Black. I immediately felt comfortable with him, he has a wonderful demeanor and a truly caring side. He even wrote a book, "Living with a Brain Tumor". I've already read it. It's written for the layperson and explains anything and everything that we as fellow an'ers need to know. He is the chief of Neurosurgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston as well as a professor at Harvard. He has done over 5000 brain surgeries in his career. He told he has done about 250 for acoustic neuroma's. I went in with a list of 12 questions for him and he he took the time to answer everyone. He told me if I had any further questions that I could call him at this number. He turned over his business card, and wrote down his cell number!! Right there and then I knew that he was the doctor for me. He is world renowed in his field.

We'll all get through our surgeries with flying colors. Keep the faith.

Gingerbread6 (GB6) is fine too!!!