Phil and I arrive at Georgetown Hospital to meet the ENT, Dr. K, there. We wait in the waiting room for a long time and are then finally called back. Dr. K explains the options (watch & wait, radiation, surgery) and recommends surgery due to my young age. Most acoustic neuroma patients are in their 40s or 50s. He says that there is a chance that I could have Neurofibromatosis-2 (NF2), a genetic disorder that causes these benign tumors on both sides of the head and along the spine, because I am on the young side to present with just a single acoustic neuroma. He recommends that I get an MRI of my full spine to check for any incidence of tumors. He also wants me to get an auditory brainstem response (ABR) test, as that will help them determine the level to which my auditory nerve has been affected by the tumor. Finally, Dr. K gives me the name of the neurosurgeon with whom he works on AN cases, and I'm to set up a meeting with him to discuss the actual surgical procedure in greater detail.
(In the interest of full disclosure, this post was actually written on 1/28/09.)
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