The Sorcerer

Many years ago I went to Paris, to a meeting organized by Prof. Jean-Marc Sterkers. William House and Ugo Fish were the special guests. The meeting was excellent but still the four of us found many hours to talk about many things, medical and non-medical.

In one of the meeting’s sessions Ugo told us about one of his patients, a man who lived in one of the many mountains in Switzerland and had little contact with the big cities.

One day this man realized that he had lost most of his hearing in one ear. He knew a  famous sorcerer near his home and went there hoping to find a cure for his ailment.

The sorcerer stared at him for several minutes and then said: “You have a tumor in your ear. Take a train to Zürich, go to the Universitätspital and look for Professor Ugo Fish. He will cure you.”

So the man took a train to Zürich, walked to the University Hospital and succeeded in making an appointment with Professor Ugo Fish.

Ugo examined the patient, sent him for audiological tests and then to radiology and the man really had a vestibular schwannoma.

This is a benign tumor that arises from the sheath of one of the vestibular nerves. It usually starts in the internal auditory canal and may slowly grow to exert compression on the brainstem when not adequately treated. It is the most common of all intracranial tumors.

This patient was submitted to a translabyrinthine procedure and the tumor was completely removed.

When he was ready to be discharged from the hospital, Ugo asked him: “Aren’t you grateful to us for having removed your tumor?”

“No,” said the man. “I am grateful to the sorcerer.”