The Research

I'm trying to collect some research on what to expect. Mostly I've been looking at "vestibular schwannoma" since Dr Q said he was leaning towards that, and I think it probably is, too. Just a really big one.

I found this article abstract that seems pretty relevant. I didn't know about the "fat harvest", though! Maybe I can ask them to harvest some extra and add a tummy tuck in there, too. :) Of course I don't have access to the full article, but it looks like good news from the abstract. 0.14% mortality seems like good odds. The surgeries are kind of old (the most recent being in 2001), so I bet it's even better now. Plus I'm going to some rockin' surgeons. It'll be alright.

This article also looks at 1000 vestibular schwannoma removals, with 1.1% mortality. Still not bad.

EDIT TO ADD: And this article looks specifically at young adults with large tumors. Looks like a lot of them didn't have really bad symptoms pre-diagnosis, so I don't feel like such a weirdo (though a lucky weirdo) for pretty much being okay. (END EDIT)

I'm trying to look up some information on how the surgery works exactly, too. It looks like there are several approaches that can be used.

-Enlarged translabyrinthine approach (pictures of steps) (article) - This may be a possibility, since the article talks about success with larger tumors. Looks like large being 3cm or bigger, which mine is almost 5cm. Jeebus. When reading about the pros and cons, though, it sounds not as awesome.

-Enlarged middle fossa approach (pictures / website) - Looks like this one is for little tumors so that's probably out.

-Retrosigmoid / Suboccipital approach (pictures of steps) (article) - I think this will be the one. Looks like it's for bigger tumors that have more outside the ear and more on the cerebellum/brainstem. The site I just read makes it sound like there isn't a guarantee of deafness like in other approaches, but that there could be more trauma to the cerebellum, resulting in more balance type issues. Lots of stories about people having to relearn things like walking! That's a little scary.. Also, I'm seeing some stuff about increased incidence of severe headaches for a long time postop. Will have to ask about that. (Article) (Another headache article)
(picture of preop shaving) Check out the hairdo! I'll have to go for the mohawk if they have to do that much shaving.

Well, darn. This self-reporting survey from awhile ago shows only 2/3rds of people could do the same job as before after surgery. :/