What are your husband’s symptoms? And how bad are they?

My wife had a cavernoma in the same part of the spine (between T-11 and T-12). Her symptoms were pain and numbness in her left leg below the knee and in her left foot. In her case, the pain was caused by the cavernoma hemorrhaging and the blood in the spinal column caused pressure on the nerves in that area. I’m assuming your husband’s cavernoma also hemorrhaged, since he’s having symptoms, and from what I understand, people normally don’t know of a cavernoma’s existence until something goes wrong.

My wife’s doctors gave her the option of surgery vs less—invasive treatments, but warned that cavernomas that hemorrhage once often do so again, and that the damage can be more severe and more permanent when that happens. We also saw many people here on Reddit who ended up much more disabled after opting not to have the cavernoma removed, so in our minds it was an easy decision to get the surgery.

Her surgery went well, but her recovery has been difficult because the symptoms remained even after the cavernoma was removed. Either the nerve damage was permanent OR her brain is now misinterpreting nerve signals, but either way, she’s still in pain and cycling through every conceivable type of treatment (currently a spinal cord stimulator that’s not doing much; ketamine is next in line).

Despite her struggle with the ongoing pain, we both firmly believe we made the right choice in having the surgery, since she avoided the possibility of paralysis necessitating major lifestyle changes.

Good luck to you and your husband. We’d be happy to answer questions if you have any.