AN surgery

[IA786]

Hi,

I Have a acoustic neuroma ,can anyone please tell me what the surgery involves and what is the recovery time ,please

Thanks very much

[drdeanbellavia]

If you get Gamma Knife (GK) surgery the recovery time is very short. If you get invasive surgery the recovery time seems to be months. I have a 15mm AN that was killed with GK surgery in 18 minutes; it is dead and shrunk 35%. I had the GK surgery in the am and was fixing a flat on my wife's minivan that afternoon as if I never had the surgery. See the following link:

valleygammaknife.com/gamma-...

[IA786 in reply to drdeanbellavia]

Thanks very much

[Minnow1]

Hi ,

Recovery time varies depending on size etc of tuma. My operation took 9 hours and recovery is slow but im getting there after 6 months.

Was 33mm in size.

My symptoms vary but loss of one side hearing ballance nerve cut are prob the main symptoms.

But recovery so different between patients can be 3 months to a few years.

Realy different betwwen people.

Good luck , any questions just ask

[IA786 in reply to Minnow1]

Thanks very much

[Jerrycat13]

Wot size is urs. Mine is 20mm and im on watch + wait.

[IA786 in reply to Jerrycat13]

I’m not sure what size, I had the doctors appointment and from there every thing was forgotten due to the shock

[Jerrycat13 in reply to IA786]

Try to find out and let me know.

[Jogmymemory]

Hi IA786 I am so sorry about your diagnosis. If you’re like me you probably never heard of AN until now. My surgery was in 2009. It lasted 11 hrs. I spent 2 days in ICU, 4 more in hospital. I couldn’t work for 3 months, although my dr said it would be one month. He also said that, even though facial paralysis is possible, it doesn’t happen with his patients , but it did. The FP was pretty pronounced at first but has improved over the years. The eye on the effected side was dry and it hurt a lot at first but that has also improved. All that to say that the surgery and recovery were pretty rough. The dr advised surgery over GK because I was 49 (young) and the long term results of GK was unknown then. I kind of wish I had watched and wanted to see if it continued to grow but the dr didn’t advise that, he advised surgery. Of course It’s his job to operate. Sorry to be so blunt about my experience but I wasn’t prepared for how difficult surgery and recovery would be, nor were my family or employer. The bright side is the tumor is all gone and has not returned. I do not have any tinnitus or vertigo, which is a blessing from what I read on this site and the single sided deafness FB group. The deafness is the ongoing challenge but it’s helped with a BAHA and isn’t too bad. It just seems that sh*# happens in this life and I’m so blessed that AN is not cancer, so I’ll take it. I’m sorry this happened to you! Good luck! It could be worse and you’re going to be okay. Please keep us posted on what you decide to do and how it goes.

[IA786 in reply to Jogmymemory]

Thanks very much, I am glad you are better and wish you all the best and thanks very much again for sharing your surgery details, it’s very helpful, thanks very much again

[drdeanbellavia in reply to IA786]

As you can see, invasive surgery has a much longer recovery time than does Gamma Knife surgery. I advise the latter and age really has little to do with it; I was 58 when my AN appeared although it started when I was 56. It's been 17 years since my GK surgery and all is well. I also went through the invasive surgeon's consultations and as "jogmymemory" said, they have to make a living too—GK surgery has cut down their patient load significantly—they are a biased source of helpful information. You should have a consultation with a surgeon that successfully uses radiation (GK) surgery to get the full story in order to make your choice.

[IA786 in reply to drdeanbellavia]

Thanks very much,very helpful thanks again

[Minnow1 in reply to Jogmymemory]

Hi mate mine sounds so similar to your experience apart from facial nerve , one side of my face was affected 1 month after operation was paralised on thats side of face but luckily it came back over the next month. I also have bad tinitus and headaches but hopefully headaches subside wich i think they are starting too. Im trying to go back to work after 6 months but get so tired all the time like someone pulls out my batteries lol.

My dizziness etc gets worse when tired.

Oh and for my hearing ive been using a crozz device which has helped. It is a mic on one side where im deaf and a speaker on the other ear.

Also hoping doc lets me get my license back soon as i am missing it so much !

I have accepted a long road and know ill never be the same but thats ok , ill just have to adjust every day life and keep pushing on.

Ot took me a while to understand how serious it was , i definitely didnt get it before the operation , thought id be back at work full time after 2 or 3 months.

Anyway cheers mate

[IA786 in reply to Minnow1]

Thanks very much and I hope you will be better soon, thanks again

[Jerrycat13]

What size is it. Mines 20mm

[IA786 in reply to Jerrycat13]

I’m not sure, I didn’t really register much as I was in shock