HI Kathy, any of the above could help you. The ENT is usually the right one, next an Oral Surgeon. You usually do best looking for a doctor who is proficient in Skull Base surgery. They are the ones more likely to have confidence with Eagles. That was not my case. MY ENT was my choice at the time only because he had Eagles, diagnosed me and finally I chose him because the "subspecialty guru" that I consulted with was clueless and arrogant. " Just like a tonsillectomy, nothing else," but he had never done a surgery. He was 2 hours late for his appointment as well, so I felt he would not have any compassion if he messed up.
I did a spreadsheet that I have not yet updated for awhile. I only remember Dr. Donavan in Houston. info below. I have not found any from members in Austin, but I am sure that there might be one or two. Check around.
IWe have found some good ENT's near universities, but some in your area may surprise you like mine who was a Godsend. We had a name of Dr. Donavan for one member(Houston doctotor), but he was arrogant to our second member. I think it also has to do with the "doctor's perception of the need based on what he sees in the CT scan and what your particular symptoms are. My doctor had ear pain, and a bone protrusion in his tonsil bed. Since I had those symptoms, he understood, but he could not at all understand some of my other symptoms. He did do my surgery though. I was only his second patient. The doctors' all seem to have different criteria for what they believe constitutes a need for surgery.
An expert in our situation is someone who has successfully operated on a few patients. Some of us are the first patient.
We are trying to share our experiences and Doctors names so we can increase the number of known doctors who are helpful and help others.
I did notice upon looking at ENT's near the MD Anderson area that some seemed to be a better possibility than Dr. Donovan based on their bio's, but bio's aren't that telling. Compassion and listening to the patient are big on my list of choosing a doctor. (My opinion). Second is other recommendations, thirdly, if the first two don't get me the doctor then I check out bios and ratings on the various websites. Hopefully, another member who actually lives in your area has a suggestion.
If you feel you can wait long enough for surgery to do some research, I recommend that you do so. I found this website only days before my surgery. I may have opted to go to Philadelphia for surgery had I found the website sooner. At this point, I am feeling that my surgery was a good choice, but I did not feel that way for almost 3 months after surgery. It takes time to heal and although you may be told 3-6 weeks, that is only part of the story. The incision may heal in that time and so might everything else, but sometimes it takes a little longer for the nerves to settle and that is a worrisome wait, sometimes.