Anyone else diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, a benign brain tumor?

Hi Katfred... I was equally shocked when my ENT told me I had a 3.5centimeter brain tumor pushing in my brain stem.... I went to my doctor with an Earache...
I hope all is well with you...???

Hi Tracy: My name is Rose. I was diagnosed with a acoustic neuroma in 2014. Very scary indeed. I went in to my doctor with an earache. They gave me 2 weeks of antibiotics . After that 2 weeks the side of my head still hurt and I was loosing balance. I went back and was sent to a ENT who did an ear biopsy, nasal passage biopsy and an MRI in a 3 week period.
The biopsy showed nothing as well as the nasal scan. But the MRI came back showing a 3.4 centimeter tumor in my ear canal and growing and pushing my brain stem in too the point that they saw Hydrocephalus(water on my brain). I had no headaches after the earache no pain or dizziness , nor imbalance. There were no symptoms at all.
Three weeks later I met with my surgeons and neurosurgeons and they explained the surgery to me and my children. It was a scary time, BUT I have a daughter who is an RN and any questions I didn't know to answer she did, and by the time my surgery was scheduled, we had all our answers and were as prepared as we could be.
I was diagnosed February 9, 2014, and my surgery was scheduled for March 10, 2014. I am allergic to a lot of the Anastasia drugs they give people when in surgery, so I had to make many scheduled appointments to the neurosurgeons for testing. My surgery was 12 hours. In this 12 hour period I had 4 surgeons and neurosurgeons flip flopping thru my surgery. When one completed their part they came out and updated my daughter so she could update my family as too progress. It took the full 12 hours.
the amazing part is with this surgery it was non cancerous and they scraped on my nerves for 12 hours and needed to leave 2% of the tumor on my brain stem or it would have severed nerves for my face and eye. I am 2 years since this surgery and I still need to see neurosurgeons for MRI and testing. I have imbalance due to the hearing loss in my left ear where the surgery was performed. Things that never bothered me before do now, my balance is still off and will always be off. I just need to adjust my employment and life to the after effects of having needed brain surgery.
Every day is a challenge, but I by the Grace of the Good Lord am alive.

Rose - My AN was about the same size as yours and I had hydrocephalus also. Did you get a shunt for that? I got a VP shunt a week or so before they removed my tumor. Then, I had a 7 hour surgery to remove the tumor. I was very lucky that they were able to remove the whole tumor without leaving any behind. However, I do still have the shunt for life.

I was also very lucky not to be left with serious deficits besides the loss of hearing in my right ear. My surgeries were a little more than 14 years ago, and I am doing great. Very grateful to my skillful surgeons.

I had surgery 4 months ago for acustic neuroma

Hi Katfred... I was equally shocked when my ENT told me I had a 3.5centimeter brain tumor pushing in my brain stem.... I went to my doctor with an Earache...
I hope all is well with you...???

I was diagnosed 2 months ago and im suppose to have surgery this week

Hi Tracy: My name is Rose. I was diagnosed with a acoustic neuroma in 2014. Very scary indeed. I went in to my doctor with an earache. They gave me 2 weeks of antibiotics . After that 2 weeks the side of my head still hurt and I was loosing balance. I went back and was sent to a ENT who did an ear biopsy, nasal passage biopsy and an MRI in a 3 week period.
The biopsy showed nothing as well as the nasal scan. But the MRI came back showing a 3.4 centimeter tumor in my ear canal and growing and pushing my brain stem in too the point that they saw Hydrocephalus(water on my brain). I had no headaches after the earache no pain or dizziness , nor imbalance. There were no symptoms at all.
Three weeks later I met with my surgeons and neurosurgeons and they explained the surgery to me and my children. It was a scary time, BUT I have a daughter who is an RN and any questions I didn't know to answer she did, and by the time my surgery was scheduled, we had all our answers and were as prepared as we could be.
I was diagnosed February 9, 2014, and my surgery was scheduled for March 10, 2014. I am allergic to a lot of the Anastasia drugs they give people when in surgery, so I had to make many scheduled appointments to the neurosurgeons for testing. My surgery was 12 hours. In this 12 hour period I had 4 surgeons and neurosurgeons flip flopping thru my surgery. When one completed their part they came out and updated my daughter so she could update my family as too progress. It took the full 12 hours.
the amazing part is with this surgery it was non cancerous and they scraped on my nerves for 12 hours and needed to leave 2% of the tumor on my brain stem or it would have severed nerves for my face and eye. I am 2 years since this surgery and I still need to see neurosurgeons for MRI and testing. I have imbalance due to the hearing loss in my left ear where the surgery was performed. Things that never bothered me before do now, my balance is still off and will always be off. I just need to adjust my employment and life to the after effects of having needed brain surgery.
Every day is a challenge, but I by the Grace of the Good Lord am alive.

Hi I'm Linda , I was also shocked when the DRS told me I had a brain tumor after a routine exam due to hearing loss on right side. The ear Dr sent me to hospital for MRI and they confirmed it was a brain tumor they thought AN but told me I needed to go to University Hospital in Zurich ( I was living in Switzerland at the time) it was far too complex a problem and it was on brain stem and major nerves so it was urgent. So my nightmare began, tried to get an appointment with ENT responsible for evaluating my situation and taking to board to discuss best treatment. Had to wait 3 months for an appointment! I was shocked and scared so I got on a plane to USA and got appointment with John Hopkins, UPMC and a dr. In Los Angeles, I was frantic, John Hopkins told me surgery to dangerous with all nerves within tumor, thought radiation best option. UPMC thought partial debulk then radiation but warned me my quality of life would not be same. Los Angeles similar. I was even more depressed as I went back home to Switzerland and saw another hospital in Zurich, and his Dr told me I only had a few months and needed immediate surgery that it was a Glioma tumor. I was close to a nervous breakdown then my date came at Zurich University hospital, the board not just one Dr looked closely a all my medical data MRI, CT etc and decided very firmly that surgery not an option definitely to dangerous, radiation not recommended too close to brain stem and nerves they believed more damage to good tissue would be done.
One professor with confidence said he had my solution and he has had grea results in almost all cases like mine. He wanted to do a emolization of the blood feeders to the tumor to try to shrink it and stabilize the growth. Normally Brain surgeons do this before major brain surgery to inhibited bleeding. In meantime they decided I had a non cancerous Meningioma tumor. This procedure was discovered by this Professor who worked with a Dr Fisch who was a world renowned brain surgeon at the University, he found that his patients who came from all over world came for the pre operative procedure and had such good results they cancelled the surgery. These patients became stabile and every year just had MRI to control the growth. After about 20 years of doing this with great success they decided it was a very good solution for tumors like mine where surgery was not a good option. So I had my embolization October 31st, 2012, he closed off all the blood going into tumor and it shrunk about 30% and with every nearly MRI it has been stabil with exception I loss my hearing on right side but this was due to nerves were already damaged before procedure, he told me this type of tumor is slow growing and if it finds new blood feeders and starts to grow he can do the operation again. Told me this was the best solution for me all other options would possibly ruin my quality of life. Now I come to my new problem.
I moved from Switzerland to Ft. Lauderdale 2 years ago when my husband retired, this is now our permanent home. My Dr in Switzerland cannot recommend any Dr in USA because he feels they are all to aggressive with surgery and radiation and can not recommend anyone with his experience in embolization as a stand alone treatment. The Dr must be very gifted to do this procedure and he is but now he is 64 near retirement plus I have had to fly to Zurich to get my MRI and consultation, I desperately need to find a Dr to take care of me here in USA, with Global hospitalization it's just too complicated and expensive plus I'm scared if something happens and I cannot get to switzerland not having a Dr here would be disastrous. I have not been able to find a Dr with this type of experience I don't know how to proceed. Please can anyone help me or give me advise. The health care system has is so complicated and after 35 years living in Switzerland I do not have many resources and no family to help me. I would appreciate any recommendations or help. Thank you