Dual Perspectives: A Nurse-Patient's Lived Experience Informing Holistic Perioperative Care and Rehabilitation for Acoustic Neuroma.

BACKGROUND: Acoustic neuroma (AN), or vestibular schwannoma, accounts for 8% to 10% of intracranial neoplasms and 80% of cerebellopontine angle tumors. Postoperative vestibular symptoms are common, yet research has largely failed to integrate the perspectives of both health care providers and patients.

METHOD: This case report documents the perioperative experiences of a nurse diagnosed with AN, including psychological changes, symptom progression, and rehabilitation, from a dual nurse-patient perspective.

RESULTS: The patient presented with vertigo and an unsteady gait and was diagnosed with AN located at the left pontocerebellar angle. Microsurgical resection via retrosigmoid approach was performed, with no major postoperative complications. A structured rehabilitation program and staged vocational adaptation facilitated full recovery and return to work 4 months postoperatively.

CONCLUSION: This reflective nurse-patient case narrative provides new information on a previously underrecognized phenomenon: clinically literate vestibular schwannoma patients experience heightened somatic hypervigilance and self-diagnostic cognitive bias that intensify perioperative distress, yet their medical training does not eliminate the perceptual gap between clinician-graded and self-reported facial outcomes. The dual-perspective introspection yields a novel three-pronged sensory-psychological-social rehabilitation framework-integrating objective facial assessment, patient-reported outcome capture, early vestibular rehabilitation, cognitive coping strategies, and phased vocational re-entry.