Hello all! We are continuing a weeklong series that seeks to answer, as well as possible, how long it took for people with certain kinds of Schwannomas to feel better after surgery and recovery. In this blogpost we detail the answers given from friends of the Schwannoma Survivors & Schwannoma Fighters page who returned their feedback on how long it took them to feel better after cervical schwannoma surgery. We hope you find these useful! - Neil
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Answer 1
"I had surgery to remove a large schwannoma tumor from my cervical spine at the C3-C-7 level. It was completely removed, but because the tumor was so large and had compressed my cord for so long, it did permanent damage to my cord - that is a big problem. My neurosurgeon told me it would take about a year for me to recover from the surgery, that at the end of 3 years I would have all the function back that I was going to have, and at the end of 5 years, I would be to my "new normal" and feel as good as I was going too. I was able to slowly resume driving after about 4 months. I was very determined to be independent. They had to sacrifice the nerve that controls the lifting of my right shoulder, so my right arm was basically useless after surgery. It is much better, but it is still a disability for me. Working hard with OT and PT is crucial. My legs are very much affected today by the cord damage. I had a lot of help after surgery. Like many, I went from wheelchair, to walker to cane. I can now walk unassisted, but I am slow. There are times when I have to rely on a walker or cane because I have a lot of numbness, pain and weakness in my legs. I went to work after the first surgery after a year, not because I had too, but because I thought it would be good for me to focus on something other than myself. After I had worked a year, I had a multi level cervical discectomy and fusion. After the first surgery, my neurosurgeon had told me that I would have to have this surgery soon. Recovery from that was hard too, and I was never able to go back to work. My upper body weakness is pretty significant, despite years of therapy. Three years after that, I got more bad news. I had another cervical spinal cord tumor at the C4-C5 level. My neurosurgeon was not able to totally remove all of it, so I am monitored for growth. This tumor lies directly in the middle of my damaged cord at C4-C5. I believe that if I had been fortunate enough to have just had one surgery in my cervical area, I would be much better off today than I am. Multiple surgeries in the same area, plus another tumor, makes for difficult days and lots of pain. I honestly can't say that I feel better, but for now, I will consider myself a successful outcome because I am alive, walking and breathing on my own."
Answer 2
"Had schwannoma removed May of 14 from C2-C3. They did a laminectomy and a fusion as well. The tumor had eaten away at much of the vertebrae on right side, so a fusion on right side was impossible. They could only fuse left. My doctor was very cautious with my recovery, and kept me in a neck brace for 8 weeks. It took about a year for fusion to fully fuse. Nerve deficit wise, some came back immediately, some was sacrificed in tumor removal, so it's gone for good but mild, and some has been slowly coming back. As for pain, the pain I felt as result of tumor disappeared day one. I still ache nearly every day. Depends on what I do. I work on my feet, and holding my head up that long gets to me after about 7 hours. People say I still don't turn my head like I should, probably a force of habit since I can. Took about 9 months post brace for maneuvering to come back."
Answer 3
"After surgery I was in ICU for a couple of days, completely immobile in my neck region with breathtaking pain which the morphine didn't touch. They kept me in hospital for a week & then sent me home -- well I stayed with family but I still was in tons of pain and couldn't move my neck. The surgeon said they had to splice thorugh the entire neck muscle to get the thing out so ... pain. Crazy, crazy pain. But in a month after that the pain was dulled to an ache and I resumed most of the mobility, eventually all of it. I went back to work too soon though which did not help. Now several years later all I have is a sort of crackly feeling in my neck when I move a certain way, and sometimes a bit of "ghost sensation" across the suture line. The surgeon saved my life b/c the thing was pressing up my spinal cord against my skull and could have caused me to become paralyzed at any moment and lose consciousness. I actually ended up in the ER with "Bells Palsy" which is how I ended up with the neuro consult that led to the MRI when they found the thing. The symptoms of the Bells Palsy mimicked a stroke but Thank G-d all the feeling and mobility came back tomy face (medication and acupuncture). Anyway that is the short version of my schwannoma story."
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