I did get a thorough second opinion. My situation was serendipitous. I had cataract surgery in LA. I thought the blurred vision was a result of the cataract. I had multi focal lenses installed and that’s when we knew something was wrong. My cataract surgeon started out sending me to a Retina specialist. There was slight decrease in blood flow in optic nerve. I was then sent to UCIrvine med center and was seen very quickly by a Neurophthalmologist. .
I then had mri w/ without contrast. It showed the tumor pressing on optic nerve. I knew I wanted it removed. There was still a slight chance that my vision might improve if pressure was removed. I met with the head of neurosurgery and an ear nose and throat surgeon at UCIrvine. They proposed removal up through my nasal way not a craniotomy. I was very impressed but as we all know we are very scared. I had secured a consult at the Mayo the day before I was going to have my operation. I postponed the surgery and went to Rochester.
On Oct 25, 26 I was seen by all of the same specialists that I saw at UCI. They came to the same diagnosis.
They offered me a surgery date for Nov 25. I decided to have the procedure done at Mayo.
My advice is get the second opinion and ask both teams all of the same questions. UCI doctors discussed a procedure to not necessarily attempt to get 100% of the tumor.
Several reasons. #1 risk of damage to surrounding vital structures # 2 the very slow growth rate of meningiomas, #3 until surgery was performed the surgeon would not know the composition of the meningioma. Some can be fibrous and stick to everything. Others can slide away from structures more easily.
and #4 we could monitor and go back in with a craniotomy later if needed.
I did not have this conversation with the Mayo drs. So when I came out of recovery and the team was really excited that they got 100% of the tumor I was shocked. They said it separated easily.
As I’ve said time will tell I’m 6 days post surgery.
The oncologist bothers me, it’s a clerical scheduler who is insisting on the visit and it can’t be done virtual. I live in San Diego Ca.