Johnny, Best Of Luck! Debbie your post grabbed my attention. We have all been there. Some things depend on your personality type and personal goals. Why some elect surgery while others elect radiation is tough to answer IMO. Most surgeons will suggest removing the tumor especially if you are young. I was only 35 at the time and had no other health issues. Some people do have other issues and/or would like to completely avoid surgery. I wish I could have avoided the tumor. Anyway, it's not like those who choose surgery feel like exposing themselves to such a big procedure but sometimes it's for our own set of reasons I guess. For me, I felt I was too young for radiation. Radiation is all the same whether its for cancer or benign tumors. That doesn't neccesarily mean it's a bad thing but I would just rather reserve my need for radiation for the bigger fish I may have to fry one day (regrowth, cancer, other tumors). Also the long term effects of radiation (if any) do not begin to appear until 20 years later. Most control rates are up to ten years but as far CK which was introduced in (I believe) 2000 will be that much longer until we see those results. Keep in mind that there are numerous machines with numerous statistics proveided by numerous institutions. The ten year results out of Pittsburgh seem excellent for GK. I've seen institutions state as low as 92% (fsr) up to 98% (fsr, gk) within 5-10 years. Most published results for radiation are within 4-7 years. Keep in mind that if someone experiences disabling vertigo following radiation then later elects surgery the treating institution may not record this as a failure because the tumor didn't grow even though the patient may feel otherwise. House has performed the most surgeries following radiation and they state that the facial nerve is harder to save although using them will provide better outcomes due to their amount of experience. As already stated, the control rates for CK will take longer since it's been used for 7 years and it's not known if the three day dose will have the same control rates as the single shot doses. It appears that hearing preservation is certainly being better achieved early but again the stats wil take time and sometimes losses can appear over time. Surgery does not mean you will get every problem under the sun. Some people don't tolerate radiation very well either. I think life changes by all options including observation. It's just something that has hapened and something that we will always remember. There are no guarantees with any treatment and radiation does seem to be the easier thing to do however in my situation for example other than losing my hearing from surgery I don't have any new problems such as, headaches, dry eyes, facial numbness or taste problems. I could twist things around and they all could have led down a simular path. I could have had radiation, lost my hearing and still have the tumor to observe. I could have done nothing and lost my hearing one day. I could have looked deeper into mid-fossa (keep in mind not many surgeons perform this) and I could have saved some hearing but gained some new facial problems because the facial is more involved with this procedure. There are hopes, risks, tradeoffs and personal needs all involved here. We choose what we think is best for us at a given time in our life. I hope that you choose the treatment that suits your needs then happily move on. I am at the point where I don't feel the need to stay on these boards often because I think that it's just a negative reminder of the entire pre and post surgery experience. There's alot of information on here with a lot of great people. It's great for new members. There are also many other AN patients that never log onhere with so many stories untold. Finally, IMO don't try to impress your doctors by how much you may already know because if you do they might assume you know everything and their advice may fall short. God Luck Hope This Helps.
