What is it like to die with an aortic Aneurysm?

Posted by takeck @takeck, Nov 1 6:34pm

How painful and where?
How is your mental capacity?
What to do if someone is trying to resuscitate you? CPR

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

@christine5

What if you could get a pendant that connects to a dispatcher. When you push the button they will send first responders. It would up your odds.

I do worry, all the time.
I currently have a sub clavian dissection, vertebral aneurysm, bi laterally. AAA, dissection in my left illiac artery. I'm also living with a hip that needs to be replaced and a broken vertebrae that needs to be replaced. They won't do either until I have gastric sleeve surgery. Apparently, my bmi is too high for any other surgery. Thanks for listening, it's nice to know there are people out here that totally understand.
I think you said you had a second OHS, so did I! 5 months after my first!

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Yes, the worst thing is to be without support from the one who pretends to be a specialist in Fibromusculär dysplasi. Have changed GPs and met her once, she was so calm and knowledgeable and actually questioned the specialist. I'm still glad to have found her after many nonchalant doctors.
Hope you can switch doctors with.
I lost 15 kg in a year with the injection Ozempic (insulin) see if you can try it!! Hugs!

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@moonboy

Receiving insulin, glucagon, and glucose during and after surgery does not necessarily mean you have diabetes. In the context of open-heart surgery, particularly after an aortic dissection, these medications are typically used to manage blood glucose levels, support metabolic needs, and stabilize the body under surgical stress, regardless of a diabetes diagnosis.

Surgical stress can lead to stress-induced hyperglycemia (temporary high blood sugar), even in individuals without diabetes. This is common in major surgeries, where medications and procedures can affect insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation. Insulin may be administered to keep blood sugar within a controlled range, but this is usually a temporary measure. Peace.

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@moonboy this kind of support with insulin, glucagon and glucose may have been easier for you than a person with type 1 diabetes. Two major top hospitals have almost killed my kid. Endocrinology admits that hospital doctors and nurses have no idea how to manage it. Hospitals are the scariest places to be with type 1 so I am glad you don't have it! (I am well aware of the hyperglycemia after surgery or other stresses, unfortunately.)

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@patrica58

Yes, the worst thing is to be without support from the one who pretends to be a specialist in Fibromusculär dysplasi. Have changed GPs and met her once, she was so calm and knowledgeable and actually questioned the specialist. I'm still glad to have found her after many nonchalant doctors.
Hope you can switch doctors with.
I lost 15 kg in a year with the injection Ozempic (insulin) see if you can try it!! Hugs!

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I thank you for the suggestion!!!!!!

God bless

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@martinkennot

I dissected at midnight on Friday/Saturday. It sounds simple. Like "I watched some TV." But it was anything but simple. Searing pain like being run through with a flaming sword. I cannot forget how instense that pain was.
After my valiant wife getting me to the ED they measured the aneurysm in the ascending aorta. It was 5.8cm. They were getting a surgeon up to the hospital, and I met the two of them, right before surgery. A CT scan then measured the aneurysm at 6.5cm. Another hour and I'd likely be ghost writing this message (pun intended).
Then I was whisked off to Neverland.
I think it was due to my total absence of any contributing issues, that I was in ICU for only five days, and I would have been out of the hospital in a week if it wasn't for liver issues and AFib.
So I don't know how long I was "unlived" - how long I was on the table without a heart beat. I guess I had the same like everyone else, but I never talked about it with my surgeon. I haven't actually seen him since before the operation and I don't even remember meeting him. But I have since met the assisting hospital Senior Registrar who when I asked "how bad was it", she replied "we had considerable concern". Which by the look in her eye (and in that exact moment you know) is doctor-talk for "we didn't think you were going to make it." I knew she was right. Everyone says that. I shouldn't be here. I won the lottery. Etc.
So now I have a super-power...
It is weird having a new perspective - not just "phew that was lucky, I am going to be a good boy from now on". No.
It's like I don't really care about my own life. Doesn't mean I am superman and I can do no wrong. But...
It's like, if that is the worst the universe can do to me then pffft! bring on everything you got, because clearly I am not going anywhere.
I have armor, and a shield, and a wicked scar that is more a badge of courage than a sad reminder, and you tried your best with your flaming sword, but next time around I know what is going to happen and I will be ready.
Yes I have the descending dissection and the rest of it, and it is reaching up now into my neck and down into my leg and across into my kidney. And because of the descending dissection I am on five meds for it.
But all these don't matter when I am still standing and the universe tried its best.
That's it?!
Come at me, universe! I am ready and laughing at you.

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Wow. What an experience! What a response! You are one tough cookie and an example to us all. Thank you for sharing this. You demonstrate the value of courage, that's for sure.

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@windyshores

@moonboy this kind of support with insulin, glucagon and glucose may have been easier for you than a person with type 1 diabetes. Two major top hospitals have almost killed my kid. Endocrinology admits that hospital doctors and nurses have no idea how to manage it. Hospitals are the scariest places to be with type 1 so I am glad you don't have it! (I am well aware of the hyperglycemia after surgery or other stresses, unfortunately.)

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Hej! Ozempic är ett läkemedel - insulin för diabetiker.
/Patrica

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