ONE YEAR

Hopefully anyone who's just been recently diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma will find this blog during their research. I hope it will be helpful for them, that's my intent.

Thanksgiving 2010

It was a very quiet Thanksgiving this year. Just my wife and I and a whole lot of food.

I decided to not make any new entries on this blog but after giving it some thought I've decided to do just one more. This one year entry will be the last as I don't see the need write about anything more on my recovery. Unless there is some new medical procedure that can repair my cochlear nerve there's really no more recovery beyond where I'm at now.

This is my head one year to the day after surgery.

(scar not too noticeable)

There's the old saying that the older you get the faster time goes by and I agree with that for the most part, but this year was an exception.
It seems like a very long time ago that I was lying on that hospital bed dressed in a hospital gown with my family surrounding me. I remember looking into all their faces and studying their expressions closely, trying to guess what they where thinking. I've never really imagined me being the one on the bed looking up.
Then in came the nurse with the russian accent who wheeled away from them into the OR. I can remember looking up into the bright lights and thinking how cold it was in there. Looking up towards the ceiling I moved my head around and saw the anesthesiologist standing right over me. He said "good night Michael we'll see you later".
Well that was one year ago.

So, with that being said lets discuss what life is like one year post surgery.

I'll start with the biggest problem first and that would be my hearing with only one ear or single side deafness (SSD).

Being able to hear out of only one ear really sucks. I can't think of a better way to say it without getting too vulgar so I'll leave it at that. I find myself having to get right into peoples faces when their talking to me in noisy environments. It's the only way I can hear what their saying. The loudest noise is the only one that I can hear so sometimes I have to stick my ear right in your face. You start to appreciate carpeted rooms more then big open rooms with no acoustic absorbing materials. Reflected sound is not good to me, it gets in the way of what I'm trying to hear. So anyone trying to talk to me in a noisy room your going to get a good look at my ear close up.
The other bad part of being SSD is sound direction, You have none. If I'm standing in a big room and someone yells "Hey Mike" I have to do a 360* look around to find you. I can hear you, I just can't tell where you are. Recently I find my self not even trying to find you anymore. I'll just wait until you come to me to say what you have to say. Sorry to any one who may take that offensively. But it's not polite to yell at someone anyway.

Then there is the constant ringing in the ear (tinnitus). It gets pretty bad occasionally, but I feel lucky when I read about some of the others who have constant severe ringing that has a big impact on their quality of life.

The second annoying problem is balance, or lack of it. I have been working extremely hard on regaining my balance and it's paying off tremendously. Unlike your hearing this is something that you can work on and you will see improvements. The best training I have found to date is hiking with rock hopping. I'll hike a few times a week down at the cliffs off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. I hike down the cliffs to the rocks and boulders and start hopping along where balance is a must. I'll also occasionally jump on my skateboard or bicycle to help with my balance. Looking backwards while riding my bike still seems to make me more dizzy more then anything else (it used to be so easy). So I don't recommend doing that.

But walk and walk and walk some more, that will significantly help your balance.

Other then those two issues there is not anything else I find problematic from the tumor removal at this point. I do feel an unevenness in my facial muscles when I yawn. A lingering residual from my facial paralysis. But it's not an issue.

I have not bumped my head yet on the surgery area, I'm very careful to avoid that. The scar does not bother me too much it's a little sensitive and while shaving my head so I shave very lightly over it to make sure my razor does not snag my scar. Ouch, it hurts just writing about it.

I once read in the AN forum-- http://www.anausa.org/forum/ that, "no one goes through this surgery and doesn't pay a price for it". Well, thats true, we do pay for it in some way.I would say my payment was about average for this surgery. Some come out better (hearing preservation) and some worse (severe tinitus, facial paralysis, vision complications and a few other bad things).

So my recommendation for anyone going into this would be, don't expect to keep your hearing on your AN side, prepare to be out of work for 8 to 12 weeks, there is a good chance that you will experience some temporary facial paralysis. This is normal so try not to get too freaked out about it. My paralysis did not start until one week after surgery and lasted for about three weeks. The most important thing you can do is to prepare yourself. Research all your options thoroughly, leave no stone unturned. You only get one shot at this so be absolutely sure you are prepared for what you are about to go through. Make sure all your questions have been answered PRIOR to surgery. Hopefully you have family or friends to help you out before, during after surgery. Take full advantage of their help you deserve it and you will need it.

For all who have been diagnosed PLEASE do yourselves a big favor and join this forum.

http://www.anausa.org/forum/

It was by far the most helpful place I found after my diagnosis. Think about it, these people have all been through this and are willing to share all they have been through. I was even lucky enough to personally meet some of them. Some only a few days after surgery while they were still in the hospital. This forum is the best place for any information about your choices. Any questions you have will be found there.

I will also be glad to help out any one who wants to talk about your AN concerns. Contact me by sending me a PM through the forum and I will reply to your message. My forum name is loose screws (tightened).


This was originally written on November 16th my one year anniversary. I've waited until now to post it.

I can't believe what just happened.
I just took a break from writing this to go get something for dinner with my wife and granddaughters. We walked into the restaurant to get some pizza and surprise, there was my kids, family and best friends waiting to greet me. I was really overwhelmed. My wife really got me on this one.

And I guess I'll have to take back the no one remembers part I wrote earlier (I deleted it).

Thank you to all of you who were there and especially to my wife and Lyndsay for pulling that off. You being there really means a lot to me.

my boys

My girls

My closest friends

And thank you to everyone who helped me through this year.

A very difficult year in my life. thanks for all your help, support and prayers.

Mike