New diagnosis of ascending aortic aneurysm and I’m terrified

You sound pretty smart to me.

I can't say the plan is good or bad,but I wish luck and good health.

This is all very encouraging! I guess the thing I have to do is wait for the cardiology team to feel it’s time for the surgery. Did you ask for the surgery before they recommended it? Mine said my aneurysm is “very small“ and they won’t operate now because it’s considered low risk. It just doesn’t seem that small to me but what do I know? I am a retired our teacher not a cardiovascular surgeon. Anyway, I’d be curious to know When they decided to do a preplanned surgery for you. Thank you so much for all your inspiration and information.

you need to calm down and relax. I think all of us have gone through what you are experiencing. I wish my number was smaller. I was told at the Cleveland Clinic that at my age surviving an operation would be a problem. I am 83. So, i return every year and my number is 4,7. I play golf, love gardening, and biking, and struggle with a faulty knee replacement. I know my time is short so keep looking ahead and not behind.

My number was 5.4cm, so when I met with the surgeon, he said that a surgery made sense, so we started the preliminaries. If you are at 4.1cm, they will probably just monitor and remeasure in 6 months or a year to help determine the rate of growth. I don't think they would consider surgery until it grew to >5cm unless you have some other issues that demanded it. Meanwhile, enjoy life!

I'm in the same boat as you are mine is a 4.2 and like you I was scared to death and they didn't care but that was February now I just go on living don't I was told not to pick up anything that was 20 pounds and I'm 70 so just live life that's all we can do and don't worry about it try it's just hard but you can do it I can do it just believe in God and keep moving on

My doctor told me I couldn't lift over 50 lbs no lifting or straining. Said walking is fine. Just not to over do it. My doctor told me that blood pressure has to be below 110-120 on top and 60-70 on the bottom. I'm fairly new to this is as well.

As a military aviator, in flight school & with instructor/check pilots they both taught us that the most important thing you can do during an in-flight emergency is to first maintain or gain control of the aircraft and continue flying it as best you can before taking any emergency procedure steps/actions. THEN analyze the situation in order to begin taking CORRECT emergency procedure steps. We were taught that is some cases it may not be possible to regain control or make a text book/checklist solution wherein thorough knowledge of aircraft systems and limitations may aid in making the best case situational response according to your judgement and situational awareness at that time. A survivable/livable solution.

In the same sense in our lives, we must do the same things. In BOTH cases easier said than done.

My situation is pretty much identical to yours. Accompanied by the same thoughts and feelings. I discussed with my cardiologist and more so with my primary care provider who seems to have an excellent ear for his patients and ask them what are my limitations? What can I do on my end as a best course of actions to live with this? I was told nothing over 30 lbs. but I occasionally cheat but not by much. I discussed with my cardiologist if it was OK to continue my blood pressure at it's current level which is a bit low 89/57 first thing in the morning and typically 100 - 110/55 - 60 during the day max. Both the cardiologist and primary said is was OK as long as I could safely tolerate it. If you haven't already, get a blood pressure tester and experiment with varying dosages of whatever BP medication you are taking. Even before I was diagnosed, I was working on losing weight. I lost almost 50 lbs. over the past year and am now at a weight I haven't seen since high school. I stay active and get more than adequate exercise & activity. LDL cholesterol is 65. My HDL is low and I am working on raising it.

DO the things you need to do, to minimize the stress & aggravation in your life. Sometimes you just have to jetison the load. LOL!

These are just some of the things I am doing. THESE are the things that I have some degree of control over and am doing my best to manage.

Above ALL and MOST importantly remember that God IS in control. I thank Him EVERYDAY for another day in this world and turn my fears & doubts over to HIM. Thank Him for the life He has given me and His grace that He as shown me. God gives us MANY things & replaces them in our lives. The one thing He does NOT give us more of is time after we have foolishly thrown it away. Use the time He has given you wisely.

I wish us BOTH the best as I have my own struggles from time to time following my own advice. 🙂 Merry Christmas one and all!

Well said, thank you!

Both my cardiologist and family docs said to keep on as before. My TAA is 4.0, and CT scan results say "borderline TAA aneurysm." I didn't know until I searched and found a CT scan from 2017, that it was listed on those results as a 3.7, and no doc had ever mentioned it.

I am a 5'10", 164# very active female. BP runs 90/60 to 120/80 (white-coat snydrom) and I am on 25mg Atenolol daily since 2015, after I had open-heart surgery for myxoma (golf-ball sized tumour inside my heart), and doc put me on that as a precaution. No other regular meds until cardiologist just put me on 20mg Rosuvastatin daily cause my LDL cholesterol is from 125-150 and HDL is around 60. He wants LDL to be 70. I didn't want to take the stuff, but I think I get the higher numbers on my Mother's side. Anyhow, I have always been in excellent health until I started getting tick diseases as early as 2003, including Erlichosis, Lyme and now Alpha-gal, as well as associated co-infections from ticks.

Ticks have been a scourge on my life, and I have suspicions that tick bites caused the myxoma.

Anyway, after reading all the input here, I don't know why the docs have not limited my lifting capabilities. We discussed all the things I do and how much weight I am lifting. And neither doc said I should stop lifting those kinds of weights. But I am going to ask again--why are some people given limits, and why do those limits vary so much? Is it because some folks have other underlying conditions or other major health issues?