Hey, just came across your post by dumb luck, I haven't been on this AN board for four or five months or so, and I only logged on today because I'm going to have my very very small acoustic neuroma treated on Monday.
My AN was diagnosed last September. I have ringing in my right ear going back to last June. My ear also felt full, like I had water stuck in it. Other than that I felt fine. It wasn't painful or anything, just annoying. The tinnitus was pretty bad, like a constant very high pitched electronic whine 24/7. After complaining about it for three months or so, my wife said, "better have it checked out." Went to an ENT & had a hearing test, my first in probably 40 years (I'm 52). My hearing had always been excellent, like crazy good, as I could hear things others couldn't, yet the hearing test showed slight hearing loss in my right ear. ENT was like, "it's a one-in-a-million chance you have this thing called an acoustic neuroma, but you should have an MRI." He diagnoses maybe 1 a year (and I live outside NYC, in one of the most densely populated areas of the country). I get the MRI, and sure enough, a 3mm acoustic neuroma RIGHT on the friggin' junction of the nerve.
Anyway, I got nervous too. It's normal. But 99.9% of these things are benign, so you can relax that it's highly unlikely to be cancerous. Like me, you should be really happy that you're so lucky they caught it so small & so early. It gives you a much better chance for preserving your hearing, and it gives you more options for treatment.
So I get diagnosed last September, and after talking to three different doctors (one highly respected surgeon in NJ; Dr Slattery of the House Clinic in LA (who I loved, by the way. Great guy.); and Drs. Sisti & Wang at Columbia in NYC, who are simply amazing & also fantastic guys), I decided to "watch & wait." When it's that small, 3mm, you really don't have to do anything, as long as your hearing is still okay & you can deal with the tinnitus. Don't get me wrong, the tinnitus sucks, but I can handle it. The plan was to see what happens, and maybe in 5 years or so, the AN would be big enough that I'd have to treat it.
Well anyway, since last September, I felt that my hearing in my right ear has gotten noticeably worse. Last month I had my second hearing test, and sure enough, it is much worse. When I shared the test with Dr. Sisti, he was surprised that such a small AN could cause such dramatic hearing loss. It must be due to its location. Just my bad luck, but hey, if it wasn't where it is, and affected my hearing like it has, I probably never would have caught it. It's important to note that while my right ear hearing is not very good, it's still functional. I have a corporate job & I'm in a lot of client meetings, but the only place it really affects me is loud noisy restaurants & bars. Anywhere with lots of background noise. Then my right ear is pretty much useless.
Given how badly my right ear hearing has declined in only six-months, I'm not going to wait, so it's this Monday for Gamma Knife treatment by Sisti & Wang on my tiny 3mm AN. I have a feeling it's one of the smallest they've ever treated. It's a five-day treated using a "fractional" approach to the radiation, so rather than get one big dose one-time, you get one-fifth the dose over five days. Safer, and better odds of not frying your auditory nerve & losing all hearing in that ear.
I hope this makes you feel better. When I was first diagnosed, I thought surgery was the only option. I just wanted that thing out of my head. But after reading up on both approaches, surgery vs. gamma knife, I'm certain I'm making the right decision with radiation. Not only because I won't be subjected to an 8-hour surgery & many months of rehab, but also because I believe this approach gives me the best odds of preserving my hearing. And as for recovery, I plan on going into the office after each treatment next week. That may change, but that's the plan.
LMK if you have questions or want to connect. It seems like most people on this board have medium-to-large ANs, and in those cases, surgery is the only solution, and it can be really scary & life-changing. But trust me, catching it so small gives you a huge advantage over most folks. And as someone once told me, "If you're gonna get a brain tumor, this is the one you want."
Cheers,
JK
