The Acoustic Neuroma Handbook
From Diagnosis to Recovery and Beyond
About the book
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.
Praise
“This book will act as a source of information and reference for those newly diagnosed, awaiting treatment or just wanting to understand the potential path ahead. It is a comprehensive guide specific to this rare condition and I encourage all who have a direct connection with AN/VS, patients and clinicians alike, to read on.”
Andrea Wadeson, Skull Base Clinical Nurse Specialist, from the foreword
Buy the signed paperback
Readers in the UK can order signed copies.
Readers overseas can request a signed bookplate instead.
Buy the paperback or hardcover
Any bookshop worldwide can also order this book by ISBN, which is the best route if none of the shops above deliver to your country.
Buy the ebook
Free resources
These printable resources accompany the handbook and are free to download.
- Treatment Decision Worksheet — a worksheet for thinking through a treatment decision
- Symptom Diary — a printable table for recording symptoms over time
- Scan and Results Log — a printable table for recording each scan and its result
- Glossary of Key Terms — plain language definitions of the clinical terms used in the handbook
- Questions for Your Appointment — questions to prepare beforehand, with space to write the answers
These resources are drawn from my own experience and research as a patient. They are for information and support, not medical advice, and are no substitute for consultation with your own doctors, who know your individual case.
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