Angela Pae

On December 18, 2018, I was diagnosed with Acoustic Neuroma, also called vestibular schwannoma. This is a non-cancerous tumor that grows on the eighth cranial nerve leading from the brain to the inner ear. This nerve has two parts, one part is to transmit sound and the other to send balance information to the brain 
In December of 2017, I started to experience numbness & dryness in my mouth. In January, I went to the doctor & had blood work done that showed I had a vitamin d3 deficiency.    I started taking supplements thinking everything would be better soon. In April, 2018  I went back to the doctor as I was still experiencing the same symptoms.  My D3 levels had increased so at that time my doctor thought I had a pinched nerve so I started on a nerve pain RX.  I started to experience balance issues but pushed it off as a side effect of the RX. In October, I decided I needed to come off the pain RX as I didn’t like how I was feeling. So I did 
In  November, 2018 I decided to change doctors. My new doctor did new blood work & again I was  vitamin D3 deficient.  My dr gave mean RX for 50,000  vitamin d3 to take 1x week for 5 weeks.   I was continuing on with my life working & trying to keep up with everything. I would come home from work & by 7pm be sound asleep. I was exhausted.  Then on a Friday,  my neck started bothering me at the base of my skull. I made another appointment to see my doctor. She scheduled me for an MRI. I am so grateful she did this because it is how I was diagnosed.
The MRI showed a 3.9 x 2.9 cm mass with a prominent effect on the brainstem   It extends into the internal auditory canal. 
Wow what a shock, but we turned to learning all we could to figure out how to remove it.  This lead us to Barnes-Jewish in St. Louis.  On Monday, February 18, 2018, I am scheduled for a 12 hour surgery. 


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