So I was diagnosed with a VS or AN approximately two months ago. Had symptoms such as headaches, heartbeat type of tinnitus in my ears & whenever I’d cough or sneeze real hard, I’d get a sharp pain around the left lower side, back of my head. The tumor size itself is 8mm x 6mm x8mm. Relatively small but I guess the surgery itself, takes 8-12 hours which in my mind doesn’t make sense, but I’m not a doctor. The reason surgery is recommended is because mines is pushing on my temporal bone too much, and sort of almost reshaping it if I heard correctly.

Anyways I’ve been reading up on radiation techniques GK & CK, but most times I’ve heard that in 5-10 years you lose your hearing. The other option is surgery but that could hurt my facial muscle and hearing could be lost that day. My doctors of course told me that they’d do everything in their power to preserve all these and since I’m young (35M), my healing should be much more effective. I did however catch it early, so that helped me out too. I guess my questions are:

1. What are the success stories with radiation and hearing still working?

2. I guess for small tumors, how did the recovery feel compared to others with bigger tumors?

3. Are there any recovery hacks or tips you’d recommend that most doctors don’t?

4. As far as recovery, when do you see the strides of your face improving? *My doctor said that it takes a year to actually see if the facial nerve, which can be damaged, will recover

Any information going forward would help me. Having it through the VA & I’ve had a surgery with them before that fixed a problem but created new problems, so now that it’s my brain, I’m super anxious and nervous right now. Thank you.