With an acoustic neuroma, there are 3 different options you can take:
1) "Watch and Wait" - since this is a benign tumor, it grows very slowly. It only becomes life threatening if it starts pushing on the brain stem. Mine is small in size, and I could realistically do this for quite some time. It would involve an MRI every 6 months to monitor the tumor. Even though it's slow growing, they can sporadically take off (though rare).
2) Radiation - This is a shorter term solution. Radiation is acutely applied to the tumor to help shrink it as much as possible. It's more of a bandage (though a significant bandage) to the tumor. This is probably not an option for me - they typically won't do this for someone of my age since it will grow back.
3) Surgery, the path I've chosen. It's brain surgery, so it's invasive. However, they can typically get the thing out of there. Possibility of side effects.
Though I'm keeping with my decision, sometimes I read opinions as found here:
http://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=15578.0
http://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=13695.0
Some of the posts are a bit scary. People with life long side effects? Damn. I think the toughest thing for me is knowing how different every case can be. I just don't know what to expect. It's not like a broken bone where you have x amount of weeks for healing.
Here's the bottom line (typing this out I think helps my validation process): I plan to live for quite a bit longer. Due to my younger age, I will eventually probably have to get this surgery done. The longer I let this tumor grow, the more side effects I could experience (facial numbness, headaches). After the surgery, I probably have these side effects, but it tends to be USUALLY short term. If this occurs before the surgery by the tumor, from my understanding these side effects are irreversible. My doctor seems to think this is the way to go. This isn't a fun decision to make, but I completely believe I'm making the correct one.
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