17/07/2022
I’m off to Sydney to get surgery again.
But this time on my head.
About 8 months ago I started noticing the left side of my face was slightly numb.
At first I thought it was the mask but it didn’t go away.
My doc sent me to get a CT scan. They found what they thought was a cyst on the left side.
She said I should see a neurosurgeon to be safe.
I got an MRI, then got called back to get more images this time with contrasts. (They IV a special dye in your arm so they can see better)
Then I went to see my neurosurgeon.
I was ready to be told what to do to deal with the cyst.
The good news is they definitely found a brain.
The bad news is my Neurosurgeon informed me it was not a cyst but a tumour.
2.5cmx3cm.
It’s not cancer so that’s good but it’s big and if I don’t get it treated it will kill me.
So that was a big shock.
It’s called an acoustic neuroma so it affects my balance, is sending me deaf and gives me double vision.
It is also so big it is pushing on my facial nerve so sending it numb or feeling like it’s cold and wet.
I was advised to get it removed surgically but I was also referred to another surgeon that uses Gamma Knife.
(Gamma knife uses concentrated radiation to kill the DNA of the tumour and hopefully shrink it a bit)
If I get it removed surgically I am 100% deaf in that ear, have a big chance of facial palsy (where the muscles sag) and a much higher chance of death in surgery. They also get to it by cutting your neck muscles off your skull and going in there. It would take me 6 months to rehab and I would never be the same.
After a stressful few weeks I saw the new neuro and he also recommended surgery but seeing as I am right on the edge of what they will do (because the tumour is so big) he said he would do the gamma knife if his fellow surgeons agreed in their meeting.
They agreed, because I am young for this kind of issue, because I am an athlete and I run my own business.
Thank god.
Carried on in comments