Friday, February 15, 2013
Back to Work!
Well I finished my first full week back at work and I have to say I feel great! I finally feel like I getting back in the swing of things. I still feel numbness in my face but it is moving more and I am starting to see a smile. It is hard to believe it has has almost been 6 months since my surgery. Have a good weekend everyone :)
Friday, January 25, 2013
Grey's Anatomy - "Really? Was that how it was?"
I have finished my first week (part-time) and I have to say it went by fast. It was glad to see everyone! It is going to be awhile before I get back into the swing of things but I felt pretty good none the less.
Jen and I are fans of the show Grey's Anatomy and this weeks episode featured an acoustic neuroma patient. Dr. Shepard (McDreamy) was supposed to work on him months ago but he had crushed his hand in last season's plane crash episode and had to go through rehabilitation. Now the patients situation is imminent. It was great to watch as I felt a bit famous but of course a bit sad, In an effort to "hollywood-ize" the story they got the facts wrong and left alot out. So I will try to explain as best I can using my personal experience and research.
The tumour was referred to as "large" but they did not say how large. Normal protocol is depending on the patients age / symptoms / tumour size is how they go about treating it. The care pathway from the acoustic neuroma of Canada website is here: http://www.anac.ca/node/72#overlay-context=node/72
"Large" probably meant it was larger than 2.5 cm in size and the reason they decided to operate is because it was starting to press on vital structures like the brain stem. Things like blood pressure and heart rate are regulated through the brain stem so it is pretty important that they are not interferred with. Having it radiated would have been out of the question due to the tumours size and the patients age. A possible side effect of radiation is radiation induced cancer and it not a side effect you want to deal with at 30 but say if your 70 you might consider it.
Monitoring the facial nerve during the surgery was done. This is done since the facial nerve of the affected side runs close to the 8th cranial nerve. When the tumour grows, it tends to wrap itself around the facial nerve. The neurosurgeon needs to carefully pull the tumour off the facial nerve. The facial nerve is monitored to ensure the surgeon doesn't damage it while he is resecting the tumour.
If you looked at how the patient was lying they were probably using an approach to resect the tumour known as the "translabyrnth" appoach. If this was the case, they got it wrong. There has to be two surgeons to do this appoach. The neurosergeon and neurotologist (ear surgeon). It's my understanding the ear surgeon opens you up and neurosurgeon resects the tumour.
After the surgery he had no facial droop. If the tumour was touching the facial nerve there is going to be some droop. From what we saw on the show it was covering the facial nerve. If the nerve wasn't damaged the facial droop will go away. I have personally met with several people who have the procedure done different ways and they don't have any droop. The thing is it took months if not over a year or longer for the droop to go away! I am over 5 months recovered and it is going away slowy....
After the surgery he sat in his hospital bed and he looked alert and his sister said "Oh my gosh" you can hear! Well of course he can hear, he still has the other ear to hear out of! One of the most elusive things with this surgery is the preservation of hearing on the affected side. I spoke to several people who had acoustic neuromas and they told me get used to only hearing out of one ear. There are several factors as to why this is so (location of tumour, approach used resect tumour, size of tumour, etc) but it is what it is.
Like I said before, it was nice to see that it was featured in the show but the experince is a little different then they portayed it :)
If you would like to know more about acoustic neuromas, check theses links out:
http://www.anac.ca/
http://anausa.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_neuroma
http://www.skullbaseinstitute.com/acoustic-neuroma/
Jen and I are fans of the show Grey's Anatomy and this weeks episode featured an acoustic neuroma patient. Dr. Shepard (McDreamy) was supposed to work on him months ago but he had crushed his hand in last season's plane crash episode and had to go through rehabilitation. Now the patients situation is imminent. It was great to watch as I felt a bit famous but of course a bit sad, In an effort to "hollywood-ize" the story they got the facts wrong and left alot out. So I will try to explain as best I can using my personal experience and research.
The tumour was referred to as "large" but they did not say how large. Normal protocol is depending on the patients age / symptoms / tumour size is how they go about treating it. The care pathway from the acoustic neuroma of Canada website is here: http://www.anac.ca/node/72#overlay-context=node/72
"Large" probably meant it was larger than 2.5 cm in size and the reason they decided to operate is because it was starting to press on vital structures like the brain stem. Things like blood pressure and heart rate are regulated through the brain stem so it is pretty important that they are not interferred with. Having it radiated would have been out of the question due to the tumours size and the patients age. A possible side effect of radiation is radiation induced cancer and it not a side effect you want to deal with at 30 but say if your 70 you might consider it.
Monitoring the facial nerve during the surgery was done. This is done since the facial nerve of the affected side runs close to the 8th cranial nerve. When the tumour grows, it tends to wrap itself around the facial nerve. The neurosurgeon needs to carefully pull the tumour off the facial nerve. The facial nerve is monitored to ensure the surgeon doesn't damage it while he is resecting the tumour.
If you looked at how the patient was lying they were probably using an approach to resect the tumour known as the "translabyrnth" appoach. If this was the case, they got it wrong. There has to be two surgeons to do this appoach. The neurosergeon and neurotologist (ear surgeon). It's my understanding the ear surgeon opens you up and neurosurgeon resects the tumour.
After the surgery he had no facial droop. If the tumour was touching the facial nerve there is going to be some droop. From what we saw on the show it was covering the facial nerve. If the nerve wasn't damaged the facial droop will go away. I have personally met with several people who have the procedure done different ways and they don't have any droop. The thing is it took months if not over a year or longer for the droop to go away! I am over 5 months recovered and it is going away slowy....
After the surgery he sat in his hospital bed and he looked alert and his sister said "Oh my gosh" you can hear! Well of course he can hear, he still has the other ear to hear out of! One of the most elusive things with this surgery is the preservation of hearing on the affected side. I spoke to several people who had acoustic neuromas and they told me get used to only hearing out of one ear. There are several factors as to why this is so (location of tumour, approach used resect tumour, size of tumour, etc) but it is what it is.
Like I said before, it was nice to see that it was featured in the show but the experince is a little different then they portayed it :)
If you would like to know more about acoustic neuromas, check theses links out:
http://www.anac.ca/
http://anausa.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_neuroma
http://www.skullbaseinstitute.com/acoustic-neuroma/
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Going back to Work!
Well I have healed up enough to go back to work (at least part-time) and I am quite excited. I have decided to give Jen a break from writing and contribute a post. My journey is not over yet, but I will try and update the blog as much as I can from time to time. So much is going on right now, it is hard to keep up, but one thing I have learned through out this ordeal is no matter what is happening, be positive because life can be so much better if you take the situation and frame it in a positive light :). I have also learned to expect the unexpected, you will never be disappointed!
I just want to thank everyone for their well wishes and we will talk again soon......
Cheers!
Dan
I just want to thank everyone for their well wishes and we will talk again soon......
Cheers!
Dan
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