Hey there!
First off, welcome to the group!, Sorry you had to become a member this way, but in the end you will make great friends all around the world.
If you read my post, you will see that I have researched my little butt off, in the areas of endo approach as well as CK vs GK. There are lots of options available to you and a great resource is the cyberknife support group aka. cyberknifesupport.org, the Dr.s there are great, will answer lots of questions for you, and although some of them practice therapy with CK, they are not biased in opinion of treatment.....
If you keep researching, you will note several things. One, the sites are often sponsered by a particular type of equipment, so the information will sometimes conflict....Second, A lot of info is OUTDATED, Third, each Dr.. will make a recommendation based upon training, insurance, facility, experience etc.
So taking alllllllllllll of that into consideration, it can be difficult to make a final decision, however, if you continue to read up, you will eventually get the facts straight enough to make up your own mind as to what is best for you.
Now, that being said, you seem like a good candidate for CK, which is a fractionated form of radiation, has a history of excellent results, is fractionated to preserve hearing and facial nerves which for you is a major concern as you still have your hearing etc., and it is non-invasive....
But, if you just dont like the idea of having a tumor sit in your head,,,which I can understand....then there are several surgical options available.....different forms of microsugery are available and the techniques do indeed vary once again according to the facility and the Dr.....There is also Endo, which I personally believe to be the wave of the future as it is the least invasive, but there are risk involved with it just like any surgery so be sure to research it as well.
Last, I personally will be having Endo By Dr. Fields..orlandoneurosurgery, in April...and as someone already pointed out, he is out of the country for the next several weeks, but he has a great reputation, great results, works with insurance which is actually one of the reasons I am going to him vs. Skull base in CA and he is located in FL, which is where I live....
If you read my post, you will see I am not a ANer.....initially thought is was one, but turns out to be a skull base schwanomma of very rare persuasion...so I really wanted a Dr. who knew there stuff,,I have consulted with over 12 top specialist around the country and found Dr. Fields to meet all the criteria I needed...I am young, 42, work as a firefighter so microsurgery was not an option, was considering CK with Dr. Spunberg in Palm Beach, but we needed a biopsy....due to location of my tumor and its size,,about that of a walnut, even getting that was a big deal....onto the endo...ahaa, my solution.
Many people have had micro surgery with no ill effects, but in my case, I would need to be placed on antiseizure meds which I cannot do and keep my job..long story....So after speaking with Dr.s all around the country I finally found Dr. Fields. He does not specialize in endo just for ANs and as a result, many people do not know he exists. If you send him his films, in the form of CD which you can copy on your own computer and if you do not know how, let me know and I will teach you.....and he will behappy to review them. Dr. S in CA wanted $600 to review them where everyone else looked for free, so that was sort of a deciding factor for me....anyways, if you look up endoscopic brain surgery as your search on the computer, you will find much more info than if you look and endo An removal.
All that being said, take a deep breath, you have lots of time to figure out what is best for you. I see you are on East Coast and if you do decide to come to FL for treatment, I am more than willing to help arrange anything here. I do not live in Orlando, but am familiar with the entire state etc as we travel there often.
Read, search, just dont panic, it will be okay.
Ceeceek
