Author Topic: Time To Grow  (Read 3713 times)

Zokess

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Time To Grow
« on: June 26, 2006, 12:45:50 pm »
High.  I had my surgery back in Ocober of 05, and just recently found this site.  Wish I would have known about this site before having surgery, then again it probably wouldn't have helped much since I went to the ER with stroke like symptons and had surgery 3 days later.

Anyway, one question I have thought of Post-Op is...How long has this thing been growing in my head?  My doctor said it grew to 5 CM, and that there really wasn't any "known" cause for the AN.  Do these things grow over a perod of days/months/years? Does anyone know?  Where can I find info on how long it takes a AN to grow to 5 CM and cause so many problems?  My hearing loss was so gradual that I didn't really didn't even notice...thought it was mom's warnings about loud music finally catching up with me.

Help...Please.....Thanx
Bruce E. Hamilton
5 CM Left Side Removed via Retrosigmoid/Sub-occipital Approach
11OCT05 Surgery date @
Wasahington Co Hosp. / Hagerstown, MD
Dr. David Caruso of Neurosurgical Specialists Llc

HeadCase2

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2006, 01:10:23 pm »
Hi Zokess,
  And welcome to the forum.  From the research articles I've read, and reports on this forum, ANs can develope over a period of years or decades.  Growth rate is commonly reported at about 2mm per year.  BUt there are many reports of the growth rate sudenly changing to a more rapid pace.  In my case, I first had a sudden hearing loss in my left ear in 1980, and a 1.5x1.0 cm AN was diagnosed in 2005.  My guess is that from the large size of your AN that the growth rate was more rapid.
Regards,
 Rob
1.5 X 1.0 cm AN- left side
Retrosigmoid 2/9/06
Duke Univ. Hospital

GrogMeister of the PBW

Joef

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2006, 01:31:42 pm »
I'm 41 now .. but in thinking back over the years , I have some ringing in the ears as a teen .. and strange muscle twitches, and I've always been a klutz, I think my balance has been "off" for years.. I had a 4 cm tumor .. I bet its been there for 20+ years slowly growing!!!  it finally got to a size where I could knew something was wrong .. and my GP asked for MRI and started this whole mess!

4 cm AN/w BAHA Surgery @House Ear Clinic 08/09/05
Dr. Brackmann, Dr. Hitselberger, Dr. Stefan and Dr. Joni Doherty
1.7 Gram Gold Eye weight surgery on 6/8/07 Milford,CT Hospital

Raydean

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2006, 05:43:39 pm »
I also had a large tumor removed in 97 (6cm).  I was also curious as to how long it had been there and was told  "probably a good 20 - 25 years or more".  My tumor was slow growing which allow for my body to accomodate the tumor as it grew, allowing it to become the size it did. A faster growing tumor would of caused me to become symptomatic at a earlier time and size.  I was involved in an accident which included a head injury.
(AN was not the cause of the accident).  The accident undid the balance between my body and tumor, causing me to decline and become symptomatic.  My body coulr not regain the balance that previously existed and this led to the discovery of the tumor.

I personally believe it's been there 30 plus years before the technology that exists today. I was having health issues in 1977 that in looking back I truly believe was AN related.

Best to you
Chet

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

TaylorsMom

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2006, 11:31:48 pm »
Hi .

I asked Taylor's surgeon about that.  I remembered she had a much harder time learning to read than her older brother did in 1st grade.  She would get so mad and frustrated because it seemed so hard to her.  I asked him if the tumor could have been causing problems then.  He said "before then."  That @#$^*^% tumor has shaped who she is almost her entire life!  I think I always knew something was going on with her.  I remember being convinced she had thyroid problems about 7th grade and made a doctor run tests for that.  Of course, they came back normal and we were back to square one.  By the time she hit 10th grade she had been written off by her school as a mental basket case.  Oh, how wrong they were.

Crazycat

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2006, 12:19:00 am »
Hello,

     I'm 49 this Friday. Had  my 5cm tumor removed last September. I had profound dizzy spells as a child that used to knock me off my feet starting in 1968 at the age of 11. These were few and far between and stopped in 1987 at the age of 30. In 1983 I suffered an inner ear infection that knocked me off my feet for two weeks. I began losing my hearing in my left ear around 1999. This eventually led to double vision starting in 2002 and catastrophic equilibrium loss in February 05. Now I know what was behind all of this.


                              Paul
5cm x 5cm left-side A.N. partially removed via Middle Fossa 9/21/2005 @ Mass General. 
Compounded by hydrocephalus. Shunt installed 8/10/2005.
Dr. Fred Barker - Neurosurgeon and Dr. Michael McKenna - Neurotologist.

Raydean

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2006, 04:01:33 am »
Paul

I was born with a right side (tumor side) hearing lose.  Having always been deaf in that ear for many years I didn't give it a second thought.  When I married and my Mother was still alive my wife would try to find out more about the hearing loss from her.  All she was ever told was "due to difficult forceps birth".  I believe my hearing loss was discovered thru school, by the age of ten I was wearing
(should say not wearing as much as I could get away with)  the old style big box kind that the receiver
portion was kepted in your pocket.  I have pictures of mewearing this thing at a early age and remember how unkind kids can be at that age.  I've also had balance problems most of my life,
ear infections and the such.  50 years later my tumor was discovered.  I've always wondered
about the relationship between the early on set hearing loss and the tumor.  Seems more likely then just coincedense. My wife believes that I had the tumor  going back to childhood.  She bases this in part on the facial nerve that was intact but badly scarred and stretched and unresponsive.

My wife has pushed for answers, but has received very few comitted replys.  The usual reply has been " We believe that your tumor was spontanous, but because I've had patients receive the NF diagnoses at a age older then yourself I won't rule it entirely out".  The testing is very expensive and beyond my budget at this time.

We try to keep things in perspective but we both wonder about these things as my children have health issues that just showed up as spontanous as my tumor, (MS and Chiari) No other family member on either side of the family has these health issues.  Guess blame it on recessive genes.

I hope technology advances within my lifetime so we have the answers for our children and grandchildren.

best to all
Chet


Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Road Trip Dale

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Re: Time To Grow
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2006, 09:26:52 am »
Hey and welcome aboard!

My docs told me they really didn't know what caused these things but there was some theory about them being caused by trauma to the affected ear.  Could be excessive noise, physical damage, etc.  I had a massive blow out fracture of the right side of my head 30 odd years ago and that could have been the trigger to the growth but no one really knows for sure.  They are many other theories.  About 1-3 mm a year is what I've read and been told but each one is distinctive and the symptoms vary in individuals so its hard to diagnose early in most cases.  I agree with a previous poster about yours being a more rapid growth than most.  5cm is a very large AN.  I thought mine was good sized at 1.75 cm but I'm learning that I was just barely in the moderate class.

Again welcome, hope to hear about your experiences since your operation.
1.75 AN Right Side
Translab 4/16/06
Dr. Charles Leutje and Dr. Paul Camarata
St Luke's, Kansas City, MO