@redhead63 No, my surgeries did not fail at all...they were both a success. I need to explain further...I have a vascular disease called Fibromuscular Dysplasia or FMD, on top of my MALS diagnoses. My other diagnoses include Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, brain aneurysms. My first surgery was a complete success... I had open surgery that involved a bypass of the celiac artery with a Dacron graft... after the ligament was released my velocities stayed elevated so the surgeon did the bypass...it was also determined through intraopertative ultrasound my hepatic/splenic artery had stenosis that was not picked up on imaging so I had a bovine patch angioplasty. This surgery was a complete success, I gained weight, had energy and no pain....for three years. My pain did return, but not because the surgery was not successful. During my second work up all test showed my arteries where good...but I started to loose weight, could not eat due to pain, my quality of life deteriorated to the point it was decided to do an exploratory surgery (It is very rare to have this done now, due to the technology advances in imaging) but we could not find the cause of the pain so my vascular surgeon opted to do it. My vascular disease (FMD) there is little known about it... it can occur in any of layers of the artery, it causes abnormal growth of the artery...and depending on which layer will determine type (Some types of FMD are more aggressive than others) Sure enough...when my vascular surgeon looked directly at my artery with ultrasound there was intimal tissue that had grown inside the graft. Not expected but the source of pain was found, and revision of my graft was done. Had I not had an underlying vascular disease this complication probably would not have happened. After the second surgery I was symptom free again for many years. Unfortunately the pain has returned, but I cannot keep having surgeries to investigate my graft. I am working on managing the pain currently. This will be a chronic condition for me, like others. Each of us are different, and success is in the eyes of the patient. In my eyes, both my surgeries were a complete success and I am appreciative of the compassion my vascular doctor displayed for me. Because of his skills and training I was able to have a many pain free years, and I know I will always have his support and guidance in the future. ❤️