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Help Understanding First/One-year Size Monitoring Scan
Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: Sep 30, 2025 | Replies (26)Comment receiving replies
This thread has really helped me. I was diagnosed about 18 months ago at 4.9 ascending TAA when I went to the ER with BP 210/115. I was simply told they would watch it annually. Last year, my dad passed away when his abdominal AA ruptured. It had been stable for 10 years at 4.4 until it wasn't. That freaked me out so I went for a 2nd opinion at Mayo. My last scan was 5.0 (I'm 54 F). The doctor said it is no longer a matter of if I will have surgery, but when. They have sent in a referral to the geneticist to see if I need to recommend testing for anyone in my family. That has weighed on me more to think I could have passed something on. I'm trying to get back to a healthy lifestyle and weight. Still don't have blood pressure under control, so they are sending me to a neurologist. My first 2 blood pressure meds dropped my heart rate too low, so they have me on losartan plus a new med for migraines. God bless you all for sharing your stories. I'm not as scared about having OHS as I was.
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@dmia2025 don’t be scared. You’ve got this. At 5.0, you are going to be a candidate for surgery. And your thoracic surgeon who told you that it’s not a matter of if but when is absolutely right. Listen to her. You’re doing all the right things to try to reduce your blood pressure now, and get genetic testing, but the urgency for you is to continue to have surveillance CT scans on a very regular basis and then be prepared to act on it. I would not risk an aortic dissection having survived on myself in 2015. It is not something you want to happen to you. There’s a very good chance you won’t survive it and the recovery from a sudden dissection if you’re lucky is much tougher than a plan surgery. I want you to think about the difference between landing a plane in a safe, normal fashion and making an emergency landing with no more fuel and the engine stopped. Yeah you can do it but you don’t want to and there’s a good Chance that you’re gonna be in trouble. So. You’re doing the right things, but you need to get in with good thoracic surgeon with aortic expertise. There is life after open-heart surgery. There are thousands of us walking around that can tell you that, but you’re gonna have to just put all your trust in your doctors. Mayo is a great place to be. Peace.