Hi This iis Regina - a newbie with a 2.7cm AN. I spoke to Dr Friedman at Keck Hospital USC and uploaded my images to him. He recommended that I would need surgery and the translab process. Since I heard that his center is the best I decided to schedule surgery.
However, yesterday I met with a neurosurgeon here in Augusta, GA where I live and asked him what type of surgery he would do. His comment was that looking at the MRI - the tumor is large and beckons him as a surgeon to operate and get it out. However looking at me as a patient, he had a few questions for me.
The ONLY symptom I have is complete hearing loss on the left side. No numbness, or paralysis or imbalance or ringing or dizziness.
So he asked me why I was leaning towards surgery since surgery would not bring my hearing back? His comment was "why would I go thro something where the post-operative symptoms would be worse that my present condition!!
Well -- that stopped me in my tracks. He said that he does not treat a picture -but a patient! the other comment he made is that since I am 69 yrs old (in July) the cells do not regenerate as in a younger person - and it could be a possibility that the growth has stopped. This is the first MRI i've ever had and so we do not have a previous one to compare to. He said that I've had it for possibly 20 years and that the slow growth allows for surrounding tissues to expand to accomodate the tumor.
I asked what he would do and he said to get another MRI in 3 months (last was in March 2017) --so July and let's monitor to see if growth increases. Then monitor every 6 mos. This would change if I developed any symptoms associated with the AN - in which case, we would have to decide surgery or gamma knife.
I would really appreciate your comments.
Thanks Regina
