Hello all!
I Just returned from Dr. Michael McKenna's ( Neurotologist at large) office at Mass Eye & Ear in Boston. For the most part, I'm in extremely good condition since my surgeries last year. I do however, have some issues with left-side impairment that are bothering me. Totally deaf in one ear - left-side - while being, let's say, an "inconvenience" is something I've been living with for five years prior to diagnosis and treatment and have no problem dealing with, even as a professional musician if you can believe it.
What's really bothering me is the impairment or lack of control I'm experiencing when it comes to handwriting and even guitar playing. Not only did I have excellent penmanship throughout my life but have also had considerable talent as an artist and illustrator. Now, although I can still get by with these skills, my abilities have been seriously compromised. I'm earnestly hoping and praying that these skills that I "had" will eventually return in full force after diligently and ceaselessly working them.
The good doctor spoke of "retraction of the cerebellum" and that typically, most of the healing that we can expect to occur in this area will occur within a year or so after surgery ( I'm now 1 year and 3 months out). It seems that in my case, I have a mild case of this affliction, in spite of the fact that I had a tumor the size of a grapefruit and two shunt surgeries for hydrocephalus. The difficulties that I'm experiencing however, are minor in comparison to how bad it could be, i.e.: problems with movement, walking, or balance.
I was speaking with a woman I know that has M.S. a month ago. Out of the blue she complained to me that her handwriting was shot - among other things. I thought that was interesting, not having M.S. yet having a similar malady.
The cranial nerves, while being so close together at the skull base, act as a sort of wiring harness that often gets short-circuited during the course of an invasive surgical procedure and/or from impingement of an invading growth. We've all experienced it, one way or another, whether the problem involves sensation (trigeminal nerve), facial movement (facial nerve), taste (chorda tympani nerve), auditory, vestibular and other problems I can't even think of. The purpose of this thread is to now append "cerebellar retraction" and the resulting problems that may arise from it into our litany of medical grievances.
Here is a publication that I found pertaining to the subject at hand:
http://www.otology-neurotology.com/pt/re/otoneuroto/abstract.00129492-200207000-00028.htm;jsessionid=FQ9pJJsnhTBKwt2LTQSh541XJfjxQvHM7S3p8p8fLkSsPGvnPyhJ!918851391!-949856145!8091!-1 If anyone is experiencing this problem with handwriting or has gotton over it after surgery, CK or radiation please feel free to chime in!
Take care, Paul
