HI mommystanley
I posted the following entry in response to a question about experiences with Keck. While my experience was not uniformly positive (see below) the Keck team is very skilled and regardless of what you choose, you'll be in great hands. Good luck!
"While obviously I can't tell you what to do I can describe my own experience being in the exact same position.
I had a 1.6 cm AN removed via retrosig with the Keck team on 11/2/15 and would describe my experience as mixed. While I don't doubt the Keck (Friedman/Giannotta) team's skills, I think perhaps expectations were not properly managed in my case. We left for California (we live in suburban DC) fully expecting to retain my hearing. When that didn't happen, needless to say we were disappointed. On the positive side, I have no other side effects. No palsy, headaches etc. I had some dizziness but I'm back driving and feel exactly the same, save the fact that I have little to no hearing in my right ear.
Prior to coming to Keck we consulted with Johns Hopkins, Weill-Cornell, Mount-Sinai and the House Ear clinic (Brachmann/Schwartz). With the exception of House, all teams recommended retrosig; House offered middle fossa. On the strength of their skill set and recommendations and the fact that the House and Keck teams were the best in the country, we went with Keck; our rationale being that the Keck team was skilled in both approaches and chose retro.
While it may have been wishful thinking on my part or hearing what I wanted to hear, for whatever reason, the reality that I might lose my hearing (pardon the pun) wasn't fully communicated until the day before the surgery. At that point I had already taken 2 months of of work, arrangements for child care made, neighbors informed etc. As someone with no symptoms prior to surgery, we (wife and I) were in a tough spot. Although the surgery wasn't an emergency, it wasn't purely elective either. My AN was discovered almost by accident in 2005 when it was 4mm. Since then it had grown, on average, about 1mm per year. We knew we had to do something.
In the event, we went forward. Aside from the standard recovery difficulties (pain, dizziness) I'm fine at 6 weeks out. Keck, as a hospital, not Friedman/Giannotta was a tad disorganized. Despite sending my entire medical record months before the surgery, none of it was available in their computer system. Dr. Friedman had to rely on what we brought and what we told him. I had been taking medications for something unrelated to the AN and, despite watching 3 separate nurses type my medication regime into the computer, the lead nurse in the post-op ICU said "We have no record of him taking this specific medication." Thankfully, my wife was their to correct the mistake.
In any case, I don't want to deter you from choosing Keck. Their team is very skilled. My AN was very close to the cochlea and so I wasn't (I now understand) a good candidate for hearing preservation. Please feel free to reach out if you'd need more information.
Best,
Josh"
