Hi, I had an AAA it grew to 5.2 cm and 4 years ago I had the surgery to have it repaired. The difficulty in the surgery depends a lot on your general health and fitness, my Dr gave me a 99+% chance of full success/no complications based on my general fitness (I exercised frequently, never smoked, no other underlying conditions, in my mid 50's back then), for me it was a no brainer, my Aneurysm was very large especially compared to my body size, in my mind just a time bomb. I had it fixed 2 months after it was found (had to wait a little as it was found while getting me prep'ed for leg fracture surgery and they want you walking right after surgery). Not going to lie, immediately after recovery is tough, painful and felt horrible at times. Recovered fast though, out of hospital in 5-6 days, back to work in 3 weeks