Roméo Florent Bassoglog Camerro saw 24 doctors in the course of a year, but they were dismissive of his bouts of dizziness, ringing in his ear and the intrusion of an occasional whistling and tapping sound like Morse code.

“They told me I was crazy, that it was just in my head,” says Roméo, a sales manager at one of Cameroon’s popular retail outlets. “I couldn’t walk straight. I would veer to the right and was unsteady when standing and dizzy when sitting. Then one day, I was getting up and it felt like someone who weighed a ton flattened me back into the bed.”

Over the next year and a half, Roméo lived with this incessant paint and intermittent sense of vertigo. It was only after this time that a doctor in Harare, Zimbabwe began to take his condition seriously. He was prescribed medication which he took for a week; unfortunately, it only gave him temporary relief. The doctor then ordered an MRI scan which revealed startling news – Roméo was living with a tumour growing on his auditory nerve — an Acoustic Neuroma.

Roméo’s tumor remained stable for about a year and a half, but a follow-up scan in October, 2017 showed it was growing. “The doctors told me, ‘It’s on the move,” Roméo recalls. After further consultations, Roméo’s doctor advised him to travel abroad to surgically remove a tumour. “I was told that tumour removal involved procedures that were now fairly advanced, the best bet was I get it done from a hospital which supported the technology”.

After a fair bit of research, Roméo decided to travel to India for surgery. “India seemed like a good option for surgery, moreover it was easy on our pockets too because the cost of acoustic neuroma treatment in India is affordable,” says Romeo smiling. However, he was just about to encounter his next bit hurdle. Which hospital should he choose from, “searching for hospitals was like looking for a needle in a haystack”. There were so many options to choose from. It was at this point that Roméo came across Vaidam.com. “Having all the options in one place with the additional benefit of cost information made the experience a lot easier”.

Romeo and his family got in-touch with Vaidam and were given the name of Best Neurosurgery Hospitals in India to choose from. “Looking at the reviews, Medanta hospital was an obvious choice. We also decided to get an appointment with Brain Tumour specialist Dr. Karanjit Singh Narang. “The good doctor recommended a new technique called the Middle Fossa Microsurgical Technique, we were very excited to hear more”.

This technique has been used extensively over the year in treating internal auditory canal (IAC) tumors. It approaches a tumor from above the ear, innovating the use of a wider opening that gives the surgeon more room and a better angle from which to attack a tumor. This technique employs the use of sharper tools allowing for the preservation of the auditory and facial nerves. Patients have reported short recuperative durations as low as one-week post surgery.

On April 12, 2018, Roméo arrived with his family at the New Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport. After being received at the airport by a Vaidam representative, the family was taken to their hotel. Shortly after his arrival, Roméo was put through a series of preoperative tests over the next few days. And subsequently underwent surgery the next week.

Less than a week later, Roméo was discharged after a successful operation by the best neurosurgeon in India - Dr. Karanjit Singh Narang. Now back in his hometown in Cameroon, Roméo can finally get back to living his life once again. We wish Roméo a speedy recovery and the best for his future.