Sharing my story

[David707]

Dear friends,

I had visited this site so many times in the past and found it was very helpful when I was searching for the right treatment and getting ready for it.  As a return, I would like to share my story and hope it would also have a positive impact on those who are searching for such information. 

Here is a brief summary of my AN case;

•   In last October, I was diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma of 2.5x 2.4x1.8 cm.
•   Last December, I finally made the decision to have a surgery after two moths of research in treatment options   
•   In January 2005, I had the surgery (9 ½ hours) at Houston Methodist Hospital by Dr. Vrabec and Dr. Trask of Baylor college. 
•   No sign of facial nerve weakening/damage, right after surgery and since then.
•   2nd Day after the surgery, spinal fluid leak was noticed whenever I leaned my upper body forward.  A procedure was done to drain the spinal fluid from my lower back.  This was to reduce the pressure in my brain and allow the leaking area to heal by itself.  The procedure was not painful at all, just needs to be closely monitored (stay in ICU for additional 3 days).
•   On the 4th day, the drainage was clamped to allow the brain pressure rise back to normal and keep monitoring the leakage.
•   After one more day of observation and be sure for no leakage, I was released from the hospital.
•   In February, i.e., one month after the surgery, I was back to work full time.
•   In March, I made my 1st oversea business trip after the surgery to Asia (with “doctor’s approvalâ€? – over 16 hours of fly, no problem.
•   In May, made another trip to Asia

I was very surprise how little pain I had experienced.  Perhaps, the most discomfort was the nausea feeling during the first few days.  I did experience dry eye for a few days which went away with the help of artificial tears.  I lost my left side hearing and balance nerves (as expected).  I learned back most of my basic balance for most of daily activities with my right balance nerve only.  No problem for driving.  I still have some balance problem when I mad big and quick body movements.  Doctor says the balance may or may not recover 100%.

I am very grateful for the success of surgery and the speedy recovery.  I am also very grateful that there have been peace in my heart from the beginning.  I do believe the peaceful mind and a positive attitude have a lot to do with the outcome.  As you all know, the support from family, church fellowship and friends are all extremely helpful.  I am very very grateful.

[russ]

Hi David!
  Thanks for your report. Congratulations on the successful removal of your AN!
  I have but one question; What gave you your greatest peace?
  Do take care now!!
  Russ

[David707]

Russ,

Good question!  I think there might be two things that brought peace to me.

First, I did try to figure out all the possible risks and their percentage rates, from the internet and every doctor I met.  At the end, the answers were quite consistent.  This allowed me to have a "reasonable" expectation.  Even though I had to prepare for the worst, I was ready to take the "average" outcome.  Being a normal guy and already past the fifty, I can take none-perfect situation.

Second, I would say it is God's mercy.  For some reason, I had never been panic from day one.  To a point, I had to ask God in my prayer that please take the peace away if it is only due to my ignorance and not from Him.  There were a couple of times that I lost my sleep; one for the choice of treatment, the other for the choice of doctors.  In both cases, some suggestion/information came from friends after I already had some preliminary decisions.  I got the peace back after I was able to give back (in my heart) the case to God's hand again. 

I am a Christian, but not a good one in many way.  I don't always have a "strong" faith in God.  I was easy to be nervous and/or worry in daily life.  For some reason, I have never been panic in this case from day one.  I knew He was with me. This is why I have been very grateful, not only for the sucess of surgery, more so for the peace in my heart.

Well, I think you have asked a very good question (every one would like to have a peaceful mind when facing such an illness).  I am not sure I have a clear answer for everyone.  For myself, I do believe the second point was the key and the first point also helped.

David

[JanetB]

when are you able to return to work?   I have an AN but also have a shrinking brain and extra large ventricles in my brain.  The Neurologist said it was the size of a golf ball and has to come out.  I am really scared to be quite honest.  My equilibrium is off, headaches like I didn't eat and then when I get up it's a rush type where I can hear my heart beat in my head along with a swooshing sound like what an ultrasound makes.  I am 50 and I know I had hearing loss at least 6 years ago when I went to the Dr and got the audio test and he said I had mild to moderate hearing loss and that was it.  So hear I am

[David707]

Janet,

I had my surgery on 1/19/05 and was back to work full time on 2/21/05.  At the beginning, I forced myself to take frequent breaks and not to be tired or stressed.  A couple weeks later, I was not able to do so any more.  The work load coming back so quick and, to some degree,  I regreted to go back full time so soon. 

There were a few things related to my AN but I did not mentioned in my previous notes because they have not bother me much.  To be more complete, however, I am doing it now. 

For the surgery itself, I did not experience much pain at all.  However, there were a few times I felt "sharp" pain within my head which only last for fractions of second.  Since it was such a short duration, I chose not to be bothered and simply ignored its occurance (i.e., not to think about it) .  Thank Lord, it happened only a couple more times after I was released from the hospital and no more since then.  This is the kind of thing that I believe a positive attutide and a peaceful mind might help the recovery.

When I moved my head, I sometime "heard" swooshing sound on my left side where the hearing nerve was already gone.  The doctor could not explain it for me and, again, I just ignor it since it did not really bother me much.

What did affect my daily life and work is the completely loss of my left side hearing.  It makes me difficult to follow discussion in a meeting.  For this, I simply make people aware of my problem and ask for their pardon when I missed the points.  I also have to be careful not to sleep "on" my good ear when I need the alrm clock to wake me up.  So far, I have not missed something very important.  At the beginning, I freqently had "wave sound" around my ear.  Now I rarely have it.  However, I still frequently have a full ear when I am tired or in a noisy place.

Yes, there are something different from what I was used to.  However, none of them so far is bad enough to make me not to be grateful. 

I wish you the best and hope you also have a peaceful mind as I did.

David