I had a 2.5-3cm AN removed March 2002. To make a long story short, the facial nerve was severed then reattached and I have regained some function but can't really smile. As a result I had eye issues, and went through 3 different gold weights. I had the last weight removed December of 2003. Other than the things below I did lose the hearing in my left ear. It was starting to fail (which along with the ringing is what got me the MRI in the first place to discover the tumor).
Some of these things may have been pointed out, but were not stressed. Some things like double vision and facial numbness (not paralysis) were a real shock when I work up realized I was at the time a far cry from what I was before the surgery.
1) Eye problems - Due to the facial nerve, I lost function. My eye wouldn't properly close and teared excessively. While I'm sure mentioned, it never hit home or was emphasized, what this really could mean.
2) Numbness around the mouth/left side of the face - The 5th nerve was traumatized. As a result I still have significent (not total) numbness on the left size of my face/mouth. While great while at the dentist, that's about the extent of when you want it. I did have slight numbness around the left side of the mouth before the surgery, but it was almost insignificent. When I woke up from surgery I couldn't feel a thing on the left side of my face/mouth.
3) Balance problems - While possible, I had thought that since the tumor was so large, the damage was already done. Apparently not. After surgery, balance was definitely my biggest issue. Walking became a challenge for a week or so.
4) Double Vision - They never told me about this one... Combined with the eye problems initially the most annoying thing besides the balance issues. Plus they had my eye so gooped up to protect it, the left eye vision wasn't so clear anyway. Never mind the scrambled brain effect that producted the double vision.
The good news:
1) Still don't have great facial function, but I have no gold weight anymore. My left eye still waters a lot, but that's better than the alternative of a dry eye. I tried a botox shot for this in October 2003, and while it may have reduced the tearing it closed my eye like you wouldn't believe. Thankfully botox wears off in a few months...
2) Still have some numbness on left side of face and mouth, but I also have feeling. At any rate I guess you just get used to it. I mean what choice do you have right?
3) Balance problems are totally resolved. They said 6 months, it took more like a year before I felt 95% OK. It was probably close to 2 years before I don't even think about balance issues anymore. I don't worry about ladders, riding a bicycle (which is my main activity of late) or high places any more than I did before surgery.
4) Thankfully the double vision is totally gone, but it took a good 6 months or so to totally resolve itself.
In summary I guess it could have been better, but could have been a whole lot worse. You just have to be thankful you are still alive and in my case at least fully functional in society/work other than the annoying one sided hearing, which is most annoying at parties or in rooms where more than one conversation is going on.
