1. SURGERY: I dissected suddenly at 50 in 2015. I would definitely NOT recommend it. If your doc says have the surgery, have the surgery. You will likely not survive a sudden aortic dissection, especially if you are not within 15 minutes of a world class cardiac surgical center. A planned surgery allows your doctor to be fresh, ready with all that's necessary in terms of blood products, grafts, etc. The nursing team is prepared. A sudden dissection is emergency surgery and the survival rates plummet compared to planned surgical interventions. You are going to want to have your affairs in order and allow your family time to plan for your recovery. I would not wait a second if my docs told me to have surgery.

2. RECOVERY: It took 2 years for me to feel pretty okay. 5 years to be better than my old self. That was my experience. My dissection was sudden Type A-1 aortic arch dissection that spiraled down the length of my aorta to my femoral arteries. Think of it like a stocking with a tear that starts at the top and works its way downward. Not good. I had no idea I had a problem. I was in a coma for a couple of weeks following surgery and endured complete Deep Hypothermic Complete Circulatory Arrest. A sudden complete sudden dissection is a personal, medical, professional disaster. Again, a planned surgery is going to almost always have a better outcome.

3. TRAVEL: I just got back from a 3-hour flight this weekend. I am 60. I would not take a 16 hour flight with this condition unaddressed. I say this for several reasons:
A) the stress of travel helped trigger my dissection (I was on a long business trip when it happened);
B) If you dissect in the air you are not going to survive. It's just way too complicated and lethal a medical event to ever be properly handled at 37,000 feet or over the ocean.
C) My hospital bill was $1.4 Million Dollars but was covered completely by my health insurance because of Obamacare. Do you have health insurance that will cover your medical care halfway across the world? Your insurance will not cover you for international travel, ever. You have to purchase a separate policy for that.
D) Your care team cannot come to you in whatever place you're going 16-hours away and there's a lot of places in this world that do not have the kind of medial expertise that exists here in the States.
E) Your family is going to have to come to your rescue if you dissect in a faraway locale. It was a personal nightmare and traumatizing for my wife to have to drop everything and leave our 3-year old, 6-six year old, and 9-year olds, behind to come rescue me and bring me home after 3 weeks in a cardiac ICU in California. I cannot imagine doing that to anyone again.
F) If you survive, and you're 9,000 miles from home in a foreign country, do you have medical insurance that will medevac you back to the states if necessary? If not, those flights start at $300,000 and go up from there. I have represented a client who was charged $145,000 for a medical flight from Bismarck, ND to Minneapolis, MN. Factor that in before you travel internationally.

So, I think the responsible thing to do is to listen to your care team and decide when the best time is to have the elective surgery now so that you can make a plan for what's ahead of you. My life is AWESOME now and I am thankful every day for having survived, but I would have dealt with it a lot differently had I known what awaited me. Peace.