Went to see my neurosurgeon last Monday after being referred on to him from my neurologist. My MRI clearly shows a blood vessel bulging against the trigeminal nerve and seemingly sitting alongside it for quite a distance, therefore causing compression. He was very nice and even showed us (my husband went with me) the MRI scan on the computer- even to my eyes it was plain to see what the problem is. He said he's not surprised I'm in so much pain and that it's his job to separate the blood vessel from the trigeminal nerve, if that's what I want.
I was very impressed as on the day i saw the neurosurgeon at 10 am I then had all my pre-op assessments done in the afternoon, therefore everything has been done on the one day and I won't have to go back a second time for testing (the hospital is about 25 miles away). He says he will do the op for me within a matter of weeks (hopefully). So, now it's a mixture of being excited at the prospect of being "fixed" hopefully and scared to death in equal measures!