Hi  Frenchgirl44,

Welcome to Cancer Chat.

I hope someone will be along soon to chat who can share some information with you about your sciatic nerve schwannoma.

It's quite a rare kind of tumour, but I hope someone with experience comes across your post.

I'm glad you're pleased with the treatment you're receiving; best wishes for the future.

Renata

Cancer Chat Moderator

hi im new to the site.my son had a schwannoma removed september 2 2011  it was atached to his spinal nerves,it was the size of a bowling ball he was told he might have a floopy foot,they might have to take part of his bowel away,but thankfullynone of these things hapened ,tthe surgeon left a very small amout of the tumor behind,it can grow again but hes having regular mri scans,hes a happy healthy 25year old ,very sporty,back playing football,gym,hope this helps

Hi,

     I'm also new to this site but thought my recent experience may be of use.

I started having some intermittent pain on the outside of my left thigh in March 2011. Didn't really think too much about it but it gradually got worse and I also started having shooting pains down the outside of my left shin when I bent over to pick up items from the floor. The pain wasn't too bad in the daytime but at night it was so bad that I was waking up in so much pain after only 1-2 hours sleep.

My GP said it was sciatica and that it would settle down and go away. It was now Novemebr 2011 and it had got so bad that I decided to see a consultant privately who referred me to have a mri scan. I had the scan and it showed that I had a tumour in my spinal canal. I then got referred to a neurosurgeon who I saw in early December, he said that he was 99% certain that it was benign.

He gave me the option of surgery to remove the tumour or I could leave it and treat the pain with painkillers, none of which had helped in the previous few months. I didn't have to think about it for more than a second; I wanted the suregery.

I had the surgery on January 19th, I have not had any leg pain at all since the operation. I was only in hospital for 2 days even though I had been told I would be in for 7-10 days. Obviously my back was sore for a week or so where I had been stapled and they had removed some backbone (the lamina) to access the spinal canal.

I went to see the surgeon today where he confimed that the tumour was a Schwannoma, he had managed to remove it all.  He said that I can now start cycling again but can't play golf for at least a couple of months. I can also go back to work again.

From a personal point of view I couldn't be any happier with how I am now compared to how I was for the majority of last year. The surgeon and all the hospital staff (the QE in Birmingham) were absoultely fantastic throughout all of my dealings with them.

Please feel free to ask me any questions.

hi richard,

i too have been recently diagnosed with a spinal tumour.

i had not been feeling well for approx 2 yrs, unable to really put my finger on what was wrong...i had horrendous pain in my feet and was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, i had several injections into both feet and this cured my right foot but not my left.

I had severe jaw and teeth pain and was diagnosed with TMJ.

i was unable to do much around the house as i had fatigue and was unsure why, if i walked a short distance then i would get severe back ache, the same as when i did the smallest of house work tasks.

one morning in may i awoke to severe neck and shoulder pain, i assumed i had slept awkwardly and when i got out of bed i felt a severe stabbing pain in the back of my left calf again i put this down to a cramp from the sleeping position....

this did not ease up and became progressivly worse, i then got severe shooting pains in my left arm and numbness in my fingers. I was back and forward to the gp on a near weekly basis from may, i went to hospital A & E  twice, saw an osteopath privatly and referred my self to both harrogate and york hospitals for physio....mean while my pain became so severe that i had to stop work. the physio in york was unsure why i had such severe leg pain and referred me to a muskular skeletal specialist.

he ordered an MRI as he felt it may be connected with my back. my gps kept refusing me anything stronger than gabbapentin and co codomol for pain relief and i was being made to feel like a complete fraud by all the gps... i had suggested that i might have a tumour and asked for a chest xray but this was declined and i was assured it was not a tumour.

there was then an 8 week back log for the scan results and each week i went back to gps begging for pain relief and to see if the results were in.....i was assured that, had there been anything untoward going on with the MRI i would have been told at the time and the fact i had not heard then it was all good news.....

of course it came as a shock to me when i went to the gp the following week in excrusiating pain and in tears, my bowels and bladder had started to play up in a big way and i was finding it difficult to pass urine.

i was told that the MRI had shown a swelling around my spinal cord and it was serious, he asked if he could refer me urgently to neurosurgeon at LEEDS.

To cut a very long story short it turned out to be a myxopapillary ependymoma grade 2 on the cauda equina.

initially it was thought to be a shwannoma but after biopsy was diagnosed differently.

it sounds like you have made a full recovery and its really nice to hear this, i still have mild discomfort on my left leg and hip ( probably from not weight baring as i should have been) but this is a small price to pay. i am returning to work next week myself and still worry that this may come back, but with regular scans etc and an amazing neurosurgeon i feel very positive.

REGARDS

LSFUNK01

Hi I am jo I am 50 on 7th June 2021 I had a siatic nerve sheath tumour remover from my buttock

It was begine Thank god 

But I am in so much pain after surgery I have a 10 inch scare I am numb at the thigh to knee 

I am getting tingling pain down leg when I bend over

Any one know will the numbness go surgeon told me today when I had stitched out it may Do.could take months or may not ever return but to normal

Any one else gone through this 

I work for cancer research 

Would love to hear from any one at this time as off sick healing