Vertigo as first symptom

[Larry]

Kat,

Welcome to our club.

I know you are only 3 weeks away from surgery but have you considered all the options - are you aware of other options? such as radiation treatment.

Has your surgeon explained these two you?

Laz

[katmumof3]

Yes thankyou larry, I've been well informed, and i've read up on radiotherapy as much as i could, nobody likes to 'have' to go thru surgery 
Concidering i'm only 28, my AN is cystic, and possibly growing faster atm,  Surgery is the best option for me. I'm also one of those people who couldn't stand leaving it in there for the watch and wait, it would drive me crazy, lol.  I guess the thing that really turned me toward surgery is the fact that there are no long-term studies on radiotherapy, and i've got a good 50 years of life left in me   or at least i hope so...... hehe.

Take care guys

Kat

[Battyp]

Kat keep the faith as with retro if you have hearing going in you should have hearing coming out!  I lost mine before surgery so of course there was nothing left after surgery.  I also lost my diabetes so I guess I can't complain too much.  I think I lost my sanity too but hey that's another story!

Larry with a tumor that size radiationtherapy isn't standard protocol especially if there is brain stem involvement like I had. 

Keep us posted on how you do Kat we'll be sending lots of love and prayers your way!

[Kilroy1976]

Kat, I know it's probably way too late for this, but:
1) There are some good studies about radiosurgery; and
2) If you want to go the surgery route, have you considered one that would possibly save your hearing?
I just wanted to throw that out there, even though I'm sure you've considered all relevant information and are comfortable that RS is the correct option for you. Best of luck!

[Battyp]

Retro is one of the surgeries that allows hearing preservation.  It's not infalliable but it's a possibility when you wake up you'll still have hearing.  I lost mine before surgery and once you lose it you dont' get it back 

[Kilroy1976]

Whoops, my mistake. I was thinking that retrosigmoid was one where they "sacrifice" hearing. I see now that Kat threw a "probably" in there. I'll just shut my big yap now. Does middle fossa also seek to preserve hearing?

[antoinette]

It was also vertigo, and this was ignored by my GP. She suggested a change of eye glasses. She even gave me some pills that people takes before travelling , Gravol! She sent me to 2 different ENTs when I lost suddenly hearing on one side (in 2 days). One said that it may be related to allergies, or stomack trouble, when the tinnitus was added to the vertigo and loss, another ENT explained that I was certainely loosing some hearing and if it was only one side this other side would join soon. He imagined that, having been in bombardment during the war as a kids was surely responsible, and there was nothing to do. When I finaly knew, I realised that ANs were rare indeed. These specialists never had one in front of them. Lucky me! Knowing nothing then, one could have decided to operate and.. where would I be? It didn't go that way.
But it can happen.
ant

[Battyp]

Kilroy I do believe middle fossa tries to maintain hearing while translab you automatically lose your hearing as they remove all the ear innards.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. 

I just remember the first guy explaining everything and telling me they wanted to do surgery and remove my ear parts and not try to save my hearing which of course put me in a state...then before I left he told me I wasn't a candidate and had to have retrosig which would preserve hearing if possible. 

Antoinette where are you from?  Did you get treatment for your An?  How are you doing?

[katmumof3]

From what i've read, Middle fossa is more likely to preserve hearing, retrosigmoid a little less likely, and translab almost never save hearing.  But none of them have a really good chance of saving hearing, or at least not over here in Australia, i hear you have some excellent surgeons over in America

Two weeks till surgery now, starting to get a little nervous, but would you believe it, my sneaky husband spent the last four weeks organising behind my back a surprise party for me!
It was the best party ever!  around 50 people came, what a lucky woman i am to have so many people who care, and what better way to perk me up!   I have lots of teddy's in pyjamas, a house absolutely overflowing with flowers, and a massive 'best wishes' card to cheer me up I feel very blessed.