1. < Aortic Aneurysms

New diagnosis of ascending aortic aneurysm and I’m terrified

Posted by mjm3 @mjm3, Aug 16 10:27pm

I received the diagnosis of a 4.1 CM ascending aortic aneurysm as an incidental finding after an angiogram was ordered to make sure I had no blockages due to an unexpected spike and blood pressure at work. I normally have low blood pressure so I was surprised when it was 189/111 and they took me to the hospital. that seem to come from acute stress at work, but I had a complete cardiac workout after finding a very low amount of troponin in my bloodstream 0.03. Anyway, the aneurysm was a complete shock and now I’m terrified that it’s going to burst at any time despite my cardiologist rather nonchalant approach. I asked if there’s anything I should be doing or not doing and she said don’t lift anything over 40 pounds . But no other instructions other than they’ll keep an eye on things. How do you get past feeling like your life is almost over. I’m 67 years old and in good health otherwise. I eat healthy, not overweight and thought based on my family longevity that I would live into my late 80s early 90s. Now I’m afraid I won’t make it till the end of the year which is probably ridiculous but this aneurysm has me totally freaked out. How do you all cope? And how do you get the fear so you can just enjoy life?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Aortic Aneurysms Support Group.

hercules | @hercules | Oct 9 2:42pm
In reply to @nlg "Mine was a 4.8 cm aortic root aneurysm and it was "watched" for over a fourteen..." + (show)
@nlg

Mine was a 4.8 cm aortic root aneurysm and it was "watched" for over a fourteen years. In the meantime, no one told me to avoid heavy lifting, grunting, and all that jazz. I went about my regular life. I was treated with beta blockers for over a decade for A-fib, so my BP remained in a good range. Imaging showed very slow progression of the size of the aneurysm. My cardiology team remained unconcerned. It was only after the valve began to fail that anyone mentioned surgery and the size of the aneurysm had crept to 5 . The surgery was not as bad as I had expected. The sternal wires are not that painful. One of the risks of both the aortic valve and graph is that you will need a pacemaker afterwards. I had the surgery in 2022 and the pacemaker in 23. I am 79 and doing well. My advice-- don't let it keep you up at night. Get a good team, trust them, and follow their advice. We live in America and have wonderful medical care available to us all!

Jump to this post

Hello, thank you for sharing your experience! It gives me hope! I’m happy to hear you are doing well at 79 and have the surgery behind you. Can you tell me if yours was 4.8 when it was discovered or when it was operated on? Monitoring for 14 years seems like a great long time! I’m just newly diagnosed at 3.9 cm and I just turned 52 years old, female. The future looks scary to me from here I’ll be honest. 🙁

REPLY
1 reply
hercules | @hercules | Oct 9 4:00pm
In reply to @davidh75 "My ascending aortic aneurysm was discovered back in 2010. I can’t remember the size now, but..." + (show)
@davidh75

My ascending aortic aneurysm was discovered back in 2010. I can’t remember the size now, but it is closer to 4 cm than 5 cm. I have had periodic checks on its size and it has stayed around the same since then. So, it has not presented a problem in about 14 years that the doctors and I have been aware of it.

In the meantime, I was diagnosed with Melanoma cancer (Stage 4) five years ago. My PET scans showed spots scattered around my body. However with my Keytruda treatment, my last PET scan did not show up a single spot of cancer.

So, while you may worry about your aneurysm, other things can develop which may be a lot more troublesome. But even so … even those can be managed, too.

As long as it’s not advancing, just do what the doctor tells you, and you should be okay.

Jump to this post

I’m sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis. I hope all goes well for you with that. You bring up a great point about worrying about one thing just bc you know and then it could be something else that comes up that presents a threat. I’ll try to keep that in mind. Do you mind if I ask how old you were when you first found out about the aneurysm and what size it was at discovery. I’m 52 female and just found a 3.9 cm ascending aorta. No idea how long I’ve had it… only other test was an echocardiogram that measured it at 3.74 cm and no doctor even mentioned it to me at all. Just read it going through my old records. Thanks for your reply and wishing you good health!

REPLY
1 reply
hercules | @hercules | Oct 9 4:06pm
In reply to @tripleaaa "7.9 emergency AAA surgery 2/5/24. Scheduled to have 6.0 Ascending Aorta and leaky valve repaired in..." + (show)
@tripleaaa

7.9 emergency AAA surgery 2/5/24. Scheduled to have 6.0 Ascending Aorta and leaky valve repaired in 2 weeks 10/16 at Emory. It’s been a hell of a year.

I still have a 4.0 left after all this. Was diagnosed with 3. To me, after the 6.0 is repaired, I’m repaired. I’ll monitor the 4.0 as recommended but I’m not going to worry about it rupturing knowing how big my others were. I also got on anxiety meds while recovering/waiting between surgeries. It has helped. We’re all miracles here. Enjoy your life best you can.

Jump to this post

Just wanted to drop in and wish you a successful surgery and recovery.. I am sure you will be glad to have this behind you in a few days. Hoping it goes as smooth as can possibly be for you!

REPLY
1 reply
tripleaaa | @tripleaaa | Oct 9 4:20pm
In reply to @hercules "Just wanted to drop in and wish you a successful surgery and recovery.. I am sure..." + (show)
@hercules

Just wanted to drop in and wish you a successful surgery and recovery.. I am sure you will be glad to have this behind you in a few days. Hoping it goes as smooth as can possibly be for you!

Jump to this post

Thank you! Excited and nervous. At least this one will be planned. I had a heart catheter yesterday and all went well. No blockages. What a long strange year it’s been.

REPLY
1 reply
hercules | @hercules | Oct 9 4:21pm
In reply to @degarden_girl "I was diagnosed many, many years ago (maybe 16 or 17 years ago) with an ascending..." + (show)
@degarden_girl

I was diagnosed many, many years ago (maybe 16 or 17 years ago) with an ascending aortic aneurysm of 3.8 cm. It is now 4.1, so very slow growing. I am told to not lift more than 25 lbs and my blood pressure is well controlled with medication. I am now 79 and expect something else will take me away when my time is up.

But I remember my horror when I was first diagnosed. We think we are moving along with life, eating a healthy diet, exercising, seeing our docs as necessary and then, out of the blue comes a terrible diagnosis. As time has gone on, I have become much less worried about this diagnosis. The repair of this aneurysm is far less invasive than it used to be, often done through an artery rather than through open chest surgery. I also have a floppy aortic valve, near the aneurysm and both can be repaired through the artery.

Something will eventually "get me" but I don't think it will be the aneurysm.

Donna

Jump to this post

Hi Donna, happy to hear yours has been very slow growing and it’s possible yours is closer to upper limits of normal for your age.. I saw a formula that calculates the upper limits of normal by age D = age x .16 + 31
If it’s true then the upper limit of normal at 79 is 4.36 cm. Do you mind sharing what BP medication you take? Have you been on it since you found out about the aneurysm? I’ve heard that BP medication can help slow progression in some cases. Thinking about asking my dr. I found out about mine on a CT scan a couple weeks ago at 3.9 cm. I’m 52, female. Had an echocardiogram 2 years ago that mentioned my ascending aorta at 3.74 cm. I’m wondering if I’ve had growth or could it be just a difference between types of scans and methods of measuring. Thank you and wishing you good health!

REPLY
hercules | @hercules | Oct 9 4:38pm
In reply to @tripleaaa "Thank you! Excited and nervous. At least this one will be planned. I had a heart..." + (show)
@tripleaaa

Thank you! Excited and nervous. At least this one will be planned. I had a heart catheter yesterday and all went well. No blockages. What a long strange year it’s been.

Jump to this post

That’s great news… do you mind my asking where you’ll be having the surgery? You may have said it somewhere in the comments already… hope you’re back on your feet in no time and can enjoy the holidays!

REPLY
1 reply
degarden_girl | @degarden_girl | Oct 9 4:45pm

Oh, that's interesting. My cardio seems pretty much unconcerned about the aneurysm but does assure I am not lifting more than 25 lbs, which I am not.

I am taking Losartan, 50 mgs and Metoprolol succ, 25 mgs. For a long time I was just taking the losartan at 25 mgs but as I aged, I am sure my arteries have become more calcified and my blood pressure needed more control. This combo keeps my blood pressure usually below 120/80. I think I was started on the meds before the aneurysm was seen.

You are right, different testing will yield different sizes for an aneurysm. One measures straight across and one measures on a diagonal and I can't remember which is which, echo or CT. I get the echo every 6 months and now swapped out the CT for an MRI every two years.

I wish you good luck with controlling the growth of your aneurysm. I guess it is the lifting that can cause the bulge to grow.

REPLY
tripleaaa | @tripleaaa | Oct 9 4:58pm
In reply to @hercules "That’s great news… do you mind my asking where you’ll be having the surgery? You may..." + (show)
@hercules

That’s great news… do you mind my asking where you’ll be having the surgery? You may have said it somewhere in the comments already… hope you’re back on your feet in no time and can enjoy the holidays!

Jump to this post

I’m having it done at Emory in Atlanta with the same surgeon who did my emergency Triple A back in February when he saved my life the first time. I’m glad things happened the way they did with this result. I didn’t have to search out a clinic or doctor and I didn’t have anytime to google the surgery.

REPLY
1 reply
hercules | @hercules | Oct 9 5:12pm
In reply to @tripleaaa "I’m having it done at Emory in Atlanta with the same surgeon who did my emergency..." + (show)
@tripleaaa

I’m having it done at Emory in Atlanta with the same surgeon who did my emergency Triple A back in February when he saved my life the first time. I’m glad things happened the way they did with this result. I didn’t have to search out a clinic or doctor and I didn’t have anytime to google the surgery.

Jump to this post

I definitely think it’s comforting to be with a surgeon who has operated on you before that you have confidence in.. that’s important and sounds like you’re in great hands! Wishing you the best results and speedy healing!

REPLY
mikeneverwired | @mikeneverwired | Oct 9 6:00pm

I am 66 years old now, but was diagnosed at 65 with a 5.4cm aneurysm. Before that, I was running, biking and hiking in the Rockies.... not for the faint of heart! If you are at 3.9cm now, it seems to me you just need to monitor the rate of growth with regular echo's and stay (or get into) shape. I would not worry... just monitor it and stay in shape... it will help with the recovery.

REPLY
View MoreView Less
Please sign in or register to post a reply.