The last few months of 2009, I have not been feeling well (dizzy, ear pain/aches, headaches & numbness in my face). I had brought the ear problems up to our former family doctor (notice I say “former”) and he told me to go home and when it hurt, swallow really hard to attempt to pop my ears. Needless to say, that didn’t work. I finally made an appointment with a new doctor, Jennifer Hauler. I disclosed to her my symptoms and she listened. Not only did she listen, she heard me. She immediately sent me for a full MRI of the brain on Monday, December 21. We were called in to see her right away on the 22nd for the results. A rush to deliver the results is never a good sign. Needless to say our world has been rocked! We were informed that I have a tumor on a nerve connecting the brain to my ear (providing hearing, balance, facial function, etc.). There are two types of tumors: an aggressive cancerous type and an acoustic neuroma (benign) clinically known as a vestibular schwannoma. The neurosurgeon that we saw on the morning of the 24th feels pretty confident that it’s an acoustic neuroma (we can only hope). The surgery for removal (as mine is fairly large) is pretty intense and could cause more permanent damage to the nerve/face or brain. He suggested we try a radiation approach to try to shrink it. The technology he’ll use is called a Gamma Knife. All of this should start in January.
Prayer works wonders and all you know that I have a FULL family that depends on me and we are all so very scared right now. My husband is so wonderful and supportive and the older kids know what’s going on (minus some of the scary words) but we will get frustrated, mad and even question…why us? So if we have other people out there pulling for us, in their own way, that can only help.
We will keep you all posted on how things go and again have a wonderful New Year!
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