Joey,
I will agree with Jim that it is not good to procrastinate. Of course, at this size you don't need to do anything hastily, ANs typically grow slowly and you should take the time to do your research and think about your treatment options, so that you can feel confortable with your decision. That being said I understand that the sudden hearing loss you had compels you to seek treatment sooner rather than later, this is how I felt too after my hearing loss. It may not be a bad idea to schedule another MRI in a few months time, just to get an idea about the rate of growth.
Based on all the stories that I have read on this forum, "feeling good" is not a good reason to avoid treatment. The odd thing about ANs is that very commonly, people who have the smallest ones are the ones who have more severe symptoms (hearing loss, vertigo, fullness in the ear, tinnitus). This is because when the AN grows inside the internal auditory canal, where the space is very restricted, the symptoms are very noticeable, so that early diagnosis is possible.
On the other hand, large ANs, that grow outside the IAC on the CP angle, often go unnoticed, and they can grow quite big. Lots of us with bigger ANs have experienced minimal symptoms. But this is not a good reason not to seek treatment, as the AN eventually compresses brain structures like the brain stem. In that sense it seems like you are one of the "lucky" ones, since you don't have very severe symptoms, but the ones that you did have led to you an early diagnosis, while the AN is still quite small and you have all treatment options available to you.
Generally, based on the statistics there are less chances of nerve damage and other complications with radiation than with surgery (including damage to the hearing nerve), but different people have different considerations (for example they feel more confortable knowing the AN has been removed for good) this is why the doctors will not give you an answer as to what "they would chose". It is a personal decision and every person has a different perspective on what treatment would be best for them.
Marianna
