eyeamneone:
Congratulations on your two-week
postie status!
There is no definite gauge for AN surgery recuperation as, not only are our bodies, healing abilities and level of nerve damage (if any) quite different, but I believe that even our attitudes and expectations can play a part in the healing process, for better or worse.
I had a relatively huge (4.5cm) AN removed (
Retrosigmoid Approach) and, I'm pleased to report, I suffered no nerve damage (thanks to nerve monitoring and a very expert neurosurgeon). While I did lose my hearing on the 'tumor side', (pre-op) it only took me a few months to return to full function. I was given my doctors O.K. to drive just four weeks post-op and I was pretty much back to 'normal' within 6 weeks. I can tell you that it took close to 10 days for the effects of the anesthesia, steroids and other drugs to 'wear off' and I was weak from lying and sitting so much the 4 days I was hospitalized, so I needed a few weeks to get my strength back. Eventually, I did.
Now, 5 months 'out' (of surgery) I'm doing fine. They removed about 50% of the tumor with surgery and I underwent 26 'fractionalized' (low-dose) radiation treatments in September and October, intended to kill the tumor DNA so it won't grow back. I'll have a 'fresh' MRI scan in a month or so to establish a baseline to check against future MRI scans I'll be getting every 6 months for the next few years to keep tabs on the tumor and be alerted if it does ever begin to re-grow, which I've been repeatedly assured by both my neurosurgeon and oncology radiologist is a very remote possibility. We'll see.
Meanwhile, at two weeks post-op, you sound as if you're doing quite well. As all have said; don't overdo it and don't compare your recovery to anyone else, whether good or not-so-good. There are some unfortunate AN surgery outcomes related on this board but some AN patients have done even better than I have, in terms of the speed and totality of their recovery. I'm not
exactly the same as I was pre-surgery, but I'm darn close. My wife estimates that I'm about 95% 'back to normal'. I tend to agree. However, this is
20 weeks (5 months) after surgery and with no immediate nerve problems, post-op.
As a native New Yorker (born and raised on Long Island) I was impatient to get back to where I was before I ever
heard of an Acoustic Neuroma. I've managed to just about get there - in under six months. However, even with having excellent health pre-op (well, except for that 'thing' in my head), no nerve damage during surgery and a vigorous and determined self-rehab 'program', post-op, to regain my balance, I'm still not and likely never will be
exactly the same as I was a year ago, before the AN symptoms made themselves glaringly apparent. I doubt any AN patient ever is. AN surgery is
major surgery and it always takes a toll, before: as the growing tumor presses on vital nerves, and after, as our bodies try to recuperate from having our skull cut open and 'disturbed' in a place where crucial nerves reside and where any disturbance is magnified and usually has long-lasting effects.
We survived that surgery and, I believe, you are well on your way to complete recovery. As others have stated and I'll echo: most post-op 'issues' resolve themselves in time. Knowing that, I trust you'll be heartened as your recuperation continues.
Now, get some rest.
Jim
