Schwannoma T10-11

[jamesinengland]

Hi All,

Recently had surgery to remove a grape sized tumour which was found to be a schwannoma, from my spine.

In short I'd been symptomatic since December 2016 with pain which radiated from the spine out towards the kidney area in my back, from late February onwards significant weakness and numbness in my left leg/foot followed eventually by the same in my right which stopped me walking at this point.

Thankfully I'm just over 3 weeks since surgery, for the first few days I used a wheelchair, then progressed fairly quickly to a walking frame and now using crutches. No continence issues, though with degrees of numbness in both feet and legs and the saddle area.

My neurosurgeon gave me an estimate of 6 months until some sort of normality returns to my gait, though I can actually walk albeit unsteadily without using crutches at all for a short time.

Does anyone else have any experience of this type of tumour in a similar area and how the post-surgery recovery has gone?

I'm grateful to be back on my feet so quickly already but itching to get back to work!

James

[Kathy]

Hi,
I had a schwannoma partially removed from the same area, T8-10, eight years ago. I never had pain, but rather numbness in both legs and saddle area, and foot drop. It did take me about 6 months to be able to walk reasonably steadily wearing only my orthotic on my right foot- the one with foot drop. As I still have some residual tumor embedded in my spinal cord, I still have numbness, foot drop and balance and stamina issues that my neuro docs feel is unlikely to improve. Otherwise, my post op course mirrors yours exactly. Eight years later, I'm grateful to be ambulatory and have made peace with my mobility deficits. I have a yearly MRI to monitor the residual tumor, and thankfully it has not changed.