The journey begins

In 2003, Wes got vertigo and had to go to the doctor. He had an MRI & an Acoustic Neuroma (benign, slow growing tumor) was discovered on his left side inner ear. He lost his hearing on that side in his early 20's so probably he's had it since then & wasn't diagnosed until 2003.

A follow up MRI in January 2009 shows that the tumor had more than doubled in size. We met with the ENT this week and were told that it must be removed. Wes will be having brain surgery, probably in February. We were surprised and saddened with this news, as it was unexpected. We expected radiation therapy but it isn't the right answer for him. Now we must focus on doing what has to be done and getting well again.

The tumor has destroyed his auditory nerve and his vestibular nerve (balance). Fortunately, the body can work out the balance part but he'll never regain hearing on the left side. Now, the 3rd nerve involved is the facial nerve. This, of course, controls his facial movement on the left side. It is elastic-like and has stretched with the tumor. For the surgery, he'll be cut behind the ear and the bone will be removed. A Neurosurgeon will attempt to remove the nerve from the tumor, keeping it in tact, so that he will still have full use of his eye muscle & smile. This nerve could be affected but may improve for up to a year after the surgery, we'll have to wait and see. They will also have to cut his abdomen and harvest fat to put into his skull where bone was removed. This is to prevent cerebrospinal fluid from leaking.