Everything you say is excellent. Very good points and i agree with all of them. I will say this, though, the single most important thing for you is for you to know that an aortic dissection generally feels like someone is tearing the skin off your back. The pain is excruciating and disorienting. If you start to feel that, the only thing to do is call 911. I survived a complete aortic dissection in 2015 in San Diego. The hotel I was staying at was kind enough to call 911 for me because I did not have the common sense to be able to get an outside line from my hotel room when it happened. Courtyard by Marriott old town San Diego gets all the credit for saving my life. So I just picked up the phone and dialed zero instead. I always think it is worthwhile to remember that the best advice you can get about aortic dissection comes from somebody who survived one. I’ve only connected with a few people who have gotten through to the other side and I think it’s imperative that you connect with a good thoracic surgeon and monitor your Aneurysm.

I get a CT scan with contrast at the same imaging center at the University of Minnesota once a year. Every other year, they use contrast in order to reduce the damage of the contrast to my kidneys. There is life after an aortic dissection – – if you survive it. The key is to survive it by reducing the risk and monitoring it. I had absolutely no idea that I had a problem until it was an overwhelming crisis. To put it in perspective, from the time I started to feel the tearing inside my chest, I was cracked open 42 minutes later for the start of my three week open heart surgery odyssey. This is nothing you want to mess with.

That said, become best friends with the oldest thoracic surgeon in your major metropolitan area and you and I will be talking 10 years from now. I was right back in old town San Diego on Friday where that dissection took place. I kiss the ground every day. Peace.