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Ok, most of you are aware of the situation with my illness, so here I'm asking, forgetting about my situation for a moment, what you would do faced with the following situation...
You have 2 choices:
1. Have an operation that will leave you facing the following situation- click and choose postoperative-
[URL]http://www.med.umn.edu/otol/library/aneuroma/index.htm[/URL]
, with complete loss of hearing, and facing life-long hospital appointments and a possible recurrence.
2. Not have surgery now, but wait until either your hearing goes naturally or you end up in a life-threatening situation where there are chances of more complications after surgery. On the plus side though, you may have a couple of years of just maintenance treatment before the op, and you will still be able to hear for a while, making it easier to learn sign and lip-reading for later on, and generally giving you more time tp prepare.
If you had to choose one of these options, which one would you choose and why?
You have 2 choices:
1. Have an operation that will leave you facing the following situation- click and choose postoperative-
[URL]http://www.med.umn.edu/otol/library/aneuroma/index.htm[/URL]
, with complete loss of hearing, and facing life-long hospital appointments and a possible recurrence.
2. Not have surgery now, but wait until either your hearing goes naturally or you end up in a life-threatening situation where there are chances of more complications after surgery. On the plus side though, you may have a couple of years of just maintenance treatment before the op, and you will still be able to hear for a while, making it easier to learn sign and lip-reading for later on, and generally giving you more time tp prepare.
If you had to choose one of these options, which one would you choose and why?
Page:
I'm having a lot of trouble deciding.
Damn, well i have no idea which way i'd go.
Ashman wrote:
> So, after 3 months it is a possibility that you could get your hearing
> back?
No it isnt.
> So, after 3 months it is a possibility that you could get your hearing
> back?
No it isnt.
Nope, the hearing loss is guaranteed and permenant.
So, after 3 months it is a possibility that you could get your hearing back?
Thanks guys. I'll keep you informed as to what is going on of course. :)
Yeah, same, I'd fall to pieces if I had to go through that, you're doing much better than I ever would. :)
In looking through it all perhaps I would be moving towards number 2 myself.. I guess if you're going to lose your hearing then perhaps you can hold on as much as you can. You never know, perhaps you could get a better chance of keeping your hearing in the future, or perhaps you could just make yourself worse. It's a gamble, but I guess that's the essense of anything.
Whatever you do, for Satan's sake make sure you're completely dedicated to your choice. I wish you all the luck in the world with it, keep us informed would you? :)
In looking through it all perhaps I would be moving towards number 2 myself.. I guess if you're going to lose your hearing then perhaps you can hold on as much as you can. You never know, perhaps you could get a better chance of keeping your hearing in the future, or perhaps you could just make yourself worse. It's a gamble, but I guess that's the essense of anything.
Whatever you do, for Satan's sake make sure you're completely dedicated to your choice. I wish you all the luck in the world with it, keep us informed would you? :)
Man that is really bad, you seem to be handling the situation better than I would. After reading that I would definately wait and enjoy things in present day. Try and go to as many musical venues and stuff and enjoy life.
All those symptons don't seem worth doing it just now, in my opinion.
Hope everything is ok and please let us know how everything goes.
Sheepy xx
See I even signed my post with kisses
All those symptons don't seem worth doing it just now, in my opinion.
Hope everything is ok and please let us know how everything goes.
Sheepy xx
See I even signed my post with kisses
This is long sorry, but it will help clarify the exact situation better:
The type of operation that would be done is called the Translab. Approach.
Basically the pros are that it’s quick, has the best chance of avoiding damaging the facial nerve, there’s no need to push aside brain tissue to get access, and there’s little muscle pain after the surgery.
The cons are a guaranteed 100% hearing loss in the ear, loss of balance for a long period afterwards, and there is a higher risk of accidental damage to the brain than other procedures.
I was told that during the operation there is no guarantee that all of the tumour will be removed, in which case the operation would have to be done again at a later stage, and even if it is all removed, that’s no guarantee that its gone for good as it could re-grow.
I was given a list of guaranteed effects of the operation and a list of possible effects and how often they occur.
Guaranteed Long-term (more than 3 months):
-loss of hearing
-unsteadiness
-fatigue
-headaches, and muscles spasms in neck and shoulders
-worsening of tinnitus
Short-term:
-dizziness
-vomiting
Possibles:
-short-term memory loss, happens to about a quarter of patients
-sense of confusion, not that common
-language difficulties, about 10%
-hydrocephalus, again not that common
-meningitis (also more at risk on long term to get recurrent meningitis), about 30%
-blood clots, 10%
-seizures, about a fifth of people
-stroke, highly unlikely
-internal bleeding, about 10%
-CSF leak,
I did a bit of research into the CSF leak one, its something I’ve never come across before. Apparently it is the main but not only cause of meningitis after this operation and presents itself as a runny nose most of the time. It also causes blood clots on the brain. About 1 in every 5 people get this after a translab. operation, this seems to be a common figure quoted.
I was also told that although it is extremely unlikely, I still had to consider the fact that this type of operation does carry the risk of death for a number of reasons, about 5% of people that have had this operation in the last ten years have died as a result. Grim, I know.
Other things I was told to expect were a lot of eye irritation after the operation, mainly dry eyes and slight vision problems.
I was told there is a 50/50 chance of having facial paralysis after the operation, and if it does happen there are no guarantees it will be temporary. I’ve also been warned of vocal problems due to one-sided weakness of the vocal chords and I could have problems swallowing.
This operation is by no means a solution to anything it seems, the complications of the surgery seem to far outweigh the complications experienced from the tumour itself, at least now anyway. The idea of the surgery seems to be to prevent later damage rather than to stop current damage, and I’m not sure at all if this is all worth it.
I am leaning more towards the waiting game now more than ever, it’s risky of course, but then so is this operation. I guess I need to decide over the next couple of days which means more to me, going ahead with the operation which will maybe look after my general health in the long term, or taking what I’ve got now and making the most of it, all the while hoping the tumour doesn’t keep growing.
The type of operation that would be done is called the Translab. Approach.
Basically the pros are that it’s quick, has the best chance of avoiding damaging the facial nerve, there’s no need to push aside brain tissue to get access, and there’s little muscle pain after the surgery.
The cons are a guaranteed 100% hearing loss in the ear, loss of balance for a long period afterwards, and there is a higher risk of accidental damage to the brain than other procedures.
I was told that during the operation there is no guarantee that all of the tumour will be removed, in which case the operation would have to be done again at a later stage, and even if it is all removed, that’s no guarantee that its gone for good as it could re-grow.
I was given a list of guaranteed effects of the operation and a list of possible effects and how often they occur.
Guaranteed Long-term (more than 3 months):
-loss of hearing
-unsteadiness
-fatigue
-headaches, and muscles spasms in neck and shoulders
-worsening of tinnitus
Short-term:
-dizziness
-vomiting
Possibles:
-short-term memory loss, happens to about a quarter of patients
-sense of confusion, not that common
-language difficulties, about 10%
-hydrocephalus, again not that common
-meningitis (also more at risk on long term to get recurrent meningitis), about 30%
-blood clots, 10%
-seizures, about a fifth of people
-stroke, highly unlikely
-internal bleeding, about 10%
-CSF leak,
I did a bit of research into the CSF leak one, its something I’ve never come across before. Apparently it is the main but not only cause of meningitis after this operation and presents itself as a runny nose most of the time. It also causes blood clots on the brain. About 1 in every 5 people get this after a translab. operation, this seems to be a common figure quoted.
I was also told that although it is extremely unlikely, I still had to consider the fact that this type of operation does carry the risk of death for a number of reasons, about 5% of people that have had this operation in the last ten years have died as a result. Grim, I know.
Other things I was told to expect were a lot of eye irritation after the operation, mainly dry eyes and slight vision problems.
I was told there is a 50/50 chance of having facial paralysis after the operation, and if it does happen there are no guarantees it will be temporary. I’ve also been warned of vocal problems due to one-sided weakness of the vocal chords and I could have problems swallowing.
This operation is by no means a solution to anything it seems, the complications of the surgery seem to far outweigh the complications experienced from the tumour itself, at least now anyway. The idea of the surgery seems to be to prevent later damage rather than to stop current damage, and I’m not sure at all if this is all worth it.
I am leaning more towards the waiting game now more than ever, it’s risky of course, but then so is this operation. I guess I need to decide over the next couple of days which means more to me, going ahead with the operation which will maybe look after my general health in the long term, or taking what I’ve got now and making the most of it, all the while hoping the tumour doesn’t keep growing.
Me too
It's an indivdual decision
It's an indivdual decision
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