Q. what kind of surgery did you have and did you know that you had an enlarged aorta ?

A. I had my ascending aorta graph with the 13 inch Dacron graft 30 mm in diameter.
I had absolutely no idea that I had an enlarged aorta because I had never been scanned for that and it dissected suddenly and without any warning.
I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I can assure you that it was quick.

Q. I had a zoom with a surgeon from UCLA (my home town is Los Angeles) but tbh ..I didn't really like their demeanor and nonchalant attitude. Perhaps it's the difference between a physician and a surgeon? I don't know ...I have never had surgery so I don't know if that's just how they are or talk?

A. Anybody who treats an enlarged aorta with an aneurysm and a nonchalant fashion is unqualified to treat you. An aortic dissection is the single most lethal and the single most complicated surgery to repair in human body. Someone who is nonchalant about it is someone who's ignorant about it. The only person I would trust more than my thoracic surgeon to tell me about the dangers of an aortic dissection would be me, because I had one.

Q. I researched the "best" surgeons for this kind of surgery and it seems that they are all in the east . Either Rochester, Minnesota, or the Cleveland Clinic. I have found 2 Surgeons that specialize in this kind of surgery that I would like to know more about.

A. I would recommend Dr. Lyle Joyce who is I believe in Milwaukee now. He was the chief of thoracic surgery at Mayo for a time but now he is over in Wisconsin. I would recommend my surgeon at UCSD La Jolla in San Diego, but he's retired now.

Q. I am so very grateful to have found this support group and especially this thread about the possibility of "cognitive impairment" post surgery.

A. Look, any open-heart surgery is going to mess with your head at some level. After having open-heart surgery, I picked myself up and went to Omaha for a federal mediation 42 days after I had surgery. I'm not gonna lie to you that I was a mess and my wife was very fearful that I would be traveling, but I felt that I needed to pick myself up and dust myself off and start all over again. I did. And now almost 10 years later I am still here, and I am still rebuilding and healing in the sense that you never really get past the experience, but you can help yourself move through it by helping others. As for my cognitive impairment? I'm gonna let you be the judge of that.

Q. I hope that I will live through this to help others with their discomfort and worries.

A. You will. Peace. Here's me three weeks ago standing with my favorite federal judge--you survive, you live on, you thrive....