My AN was 1.4 x 1.3 . 1.1 for the past 6 years. This year I had my now bi-annual MRI and lo and behold there is growth! Not a heck of a lot, but it's now 1.4 x 1.6 x 1.1. I made an appointment with the neurosurgeon I've been seeing, and he immediately said I should have radiation. (His specialty is Gamma). I commented to him that when I first saw him he advised watch-and-wait since radiation would kill 15% of whatever hearing was in my ear. That hearing, by the way, has declined considerably and now my speech recognition is only at 20%. But I can still hear, and in a pinch could even hear on the phone if the person talking to me spoke clearly enough.
He acted annoyed, and said that recently they've found that hearing declines more over the years without radiation than with it. He was also annoyed when I mentioned that I had read in this forum that many people had swelling of the tumour after radiation and many had grown back. He told me that there was a 98% success rate and became so annoyed that he cut the appointment rather short (I always wait at least an hour to see him) and I didn't have a chance to ask him many of my questions.
Obviously I need another doctor. But I'd like to find someone who doesn't just push his specialty. I'm leaning toward Cyberknife if I have anything done, but would rather wait to see if it grows any more, since I don't have any other symptoms. My goal is to have my AN and I die at the same time, hopefully 20 years or so down the road (I'm almost 69 and think that 89 or 90 is a good time to move aside for the next generation.)
I guess I just want to vent right now, so excuse my rant.
