Appointment after appointment

We have now seen a local ENT, Dr. Adam, and I have had hearing and balancing tests. My hearing is actually pretty good so that was encouraging. I felt more comfortable w/Dr. Adam and decided to get his opinion on the Gamma Knife radiation. First there was a long delay after asking him and then he proceeded to say that there was a specialist in Cincinnati that would be good for us to see, Dr. Pensak. Obviously he thought we should keep our appointment with our second opinion doctor in Cincy, Dr. Theo that Dr. Hauler had already scheduled back in December for us. So that's what we decided to do. Off to Cincy we go during this first week of Jan.

Jan.6th-Dr. Theo was wonderful...very informative, kind, thorough. He went over everything with us and then said what we didn't want to hear...you should have surgery instead of radiation. We felt defeated b/c we were so hoping that he would say what Dayton had said and then we could proceed on with radiation and no brain surgery. As we were sitting there he excused himself and made a quick phone call and asked a doctor on another floor if he could see us today. Well wouldn't you know it was Dr. Pensak (the doctor that Dr. Adam suggested to us, these things don't just happen you know. Here Dr. Theo and Dr. Pensak do surgeries together. Of course we would stick around and see him...he's the specialist in Acoustic Neuromas and the one we thought would be the tie breaker if our two neurosurgeons had conflicting approaches. Off we go upstairs one floor to see a doctor that we wouldn't have been able to get in to see for about 3 weeks...we were ecstatic, nervous and still looking for a quick fix.

Dr. Pensak was also great, very thorough and informative. He was very to the point though. He said...NO RADIATION! I just sat and listened like a child being scolded by a parent, tears running down my face, as he proceeded to say...you should have this 12 hr. surgery, you will lose your hearing all together in that ear, you will be in the hospital for up to 7 days and it will take about 8 to 12 weeks for you to recover. HOLY COW...REALLY?!?! Don't get me wrong he wasn't rude, just to the point. The he said something that clicked. "I'm an ear doctor but your hearing is the least of my concerns right now. I focus on safety first, facial nerve second (controls the closing of the eye, smiling, winking etc.) and hearing last. Radiation will mostly like damage all of these where surgery will only sacrifice your hearing (most likely)." Of course surgery is so much more invasive but then the tumor is GONE! Radiation doesn't even guarantee that it will shrink and surgery after radiation is a disaster b/c the radiation fries everything it touches pretty much and the ripple affect of the radiation for the next 10-15 years could do who knows what to my brain. I am only 36...do I really want to be worrying about this thing in my 40's too?!?! Okay I'm rambling.

We left Cincinnati tired, defeated and oddly refreshed. We didn't hear what we wanted to hear...the quick easy fix of radiation was the way to go...instead SURGERY. But what we did hear was crystal clear. These two doctors were indeed the most informative and it all made sense.