THE ACOUSTIC NEUROMA (VESTIBULAR SCHWANNOMA) HANDBOOK

You have just been told you have an acoustic neuroma, also known as a vestibular schwannoma. The words alone rearrange everything. What follows is a strange period in which the medical system explains a great deal about the tumour and very little about what it is actually like to live with one. Even a little understanding of the condition helps you make sense of things, and this book was written to provide it.

Acoustic neuroma is rare, frequently misdiagnosed, and poorly understood outside the specialist centres that treat it. Its symptoms are real and often disabling, yet most of them are invisible to other people. The fatigue does not show. The brain fog does not register in your speech. The fear you carry on ordinary days is not written on your face.

This is a patient-to-patient guide, written by someone who has been through it. It covers the full range of the condition, from a small tumour newly found on a scan to a complex surgical case, and it stays with you through diagnosis, decision, treatment, recovery, and the long years of adaptation that follow.

Across twenty-one chapters and a detailed appendix, it explains the anatomy and biology of the tumour, the road to diagnosis, and what your scans and reports actually mean. It addresses the daily reality of single-sided hearing loss, balance disruption, fatigue, brain fog, and the emotional and psychological weight of the condition. It sets out the three treatment paths of active surveillance, surgery, and radiation with honesty about what each one involves. It covers relationships and caring, navigating the NHS, work and financial support, and the long view of living with acoustic neuroma at one, five, and ten years. A full resources section, a glossary of clinical terms, a treatment decision worksheet, and printable symptom and scan logs are included.

The personal account is honest about what was lost and what was not. This is not a textbook, and it is not a memoir. It is the book the author wished someone had handed him on the day he was diagnosed. It will not remove the uncertainty. It is written to help you carry it.

Amir Khesro is the author of the memoir Whispers Through the Fog.