The next few days are spent on the internet, man is this thing scary! I find a wealth of information at www.anausa.org. I sign up for the forums, I request literature, I find a support group that will be meeting in just 2 days. I am on this thing like white upon rice. I call and make appointments with Dr. H and one of the two that my friend recommended. I read up on treatment options: Watch and wait, radiation and surgery; symptoms: hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), balance issues, facial weakness; side effects of treatments: hearing loss (many time complete hearing loss on the affected side), facial paralysis, fatigue, headaches, balance issues. Each treatment, or lack thereof, has its own issues and many are common in all options. I learn that I will very likely lose my hearing gradually as a result of treatment or deterioration prior to treatment. Right now my symptoms are only slight hearing loss and mild tinnitus. I'm learning as much as i can so I can ask intelligent questions.
The support group was very helpful, just 2 days after diagnosis I am meeting others with Acoustic Neuromas (AN's). Three have had surgery, one in watch and wait and another newly diagnosed and still exploring her options, like I am. I leave the group feeling good, the woman in watch and wait has been so for many years, her AN hasn't grown, though her hearing has been compromised. She wears a hearing aid, as do two others. One woman is single sided deaf and considering a type of hearing aid that will transmit sound wirelessly from her bad ear to her good ear. Two of the women who have had surgery show some facial weakness, one worse than the other, but not nearly as bad as I expected. It is here that i hear the word benign brain tumor. I stumbled upon it once but then dismissed it. Now im faced with it again and told that if you have to have a brain tumor this is the one you want. Still, I leave feeling better, seeing that life does go on.
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