Thanks. Looks like you went thru a lot. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I had surgery at Mayo in May, 2016. Had aneurysm repair and total arch replacement. All in all it was much less bad than I imagined. Surgery lasted for 6 hours, in ICU, I am told for 2 days-don't remember much about that. Then in hospital for a total of 8 nights. Recovery went very well. Mayo gives pain meds if you need them and great care from kind and caring nurses. Looking back on the surgery, I never doubted it would be successful. From Mayo, I went directly home, about 500 miles away and haven't looked back. No problems at home and then went to rehab. Good luck to you and hope you will have an easy recovery. I have such great faith in Mayo which gave me lots of confidence in the outcome.

With your overall good health, I would think your experience would be similar to mine. I was 72 years old at the time and had fairly good health.

Thanks. Very reassuring.

I am so glad to connect with you. I have a 5.5. Ascending aneurysm and a 7.2 descending. I had a descending aneurysm repair done at Loyola 4 years ago. It was 6 months of hell and complications. It sounds like I will need a total arch replacement. My appts are in August and surgery is scheduled with Dr. pochettino. Still not sure if I want the surgery or let Mother Nature take her course. I am 66 and not nearly as tough as I thought I was.

I had a total arch replacement with Dr Pochettino in May 2016. Really I found it no big deal. Dr Pochettino is one of the best. Nurses told me if they had to have this, then Dr. Pochettino is the one they would choose. I was in the hospital eight nights. I was so well cared for-after leaving ICU (standard procedure), I went to the cardiac floor. There is a nurse for every 2 people. I cannot recommend any doctor more nor any hospital better than Mayo. Yes I was sore but it was easily manageable. Your aneurysm is large so if I were you, I would have the surgery. Good luck to you. If you have more questions about my experience, please feel free to contact me.

Dr. Pochettino is the BEST!!! Relax, follow his instructions and you will be feeling much better sooner than you think. Had my surgery last July and am 78 years into this life. If I can do it so can you. We are all much tougher than we think we are........be positive!. Life is most interesting, I love old Mom Nature so much and that alone helped me. We are so fortunate to be here. How else can we get our country back on track? We need you!! Get it done and start writing petitions like the rest of us. You will belong to a club. Anytime someone catches a glimpse of your scar they will welcome you to "the club". Do relax, all will be fine. Ask me anything you wish about the Dr. or the surgery or both.

By the way, was only in ICU 2days and left hospital in 4 days. Live alone so had something they call "swing bed" at my local hospital and was home in 5days. If you live alone make sure you sign up for the in home health care for a couple of weeks. Didn't really need it but for once I gave in to commonsense and had that service for about 3 weeks. Going back to heavy duty weight lifting soon should have been there months ago but broke ankle during my recovery time. That broken ankle was WORSE than my heart surgery!! Can't find my first answer to you, hope it didn't get lost somewhere is digital world. Just want to make sure that you know Dr. Pochettino is the BEST!!!

I can't thank you enough for your reply. I am starting to gain a little confidence about the surgery. I had the first surgery in 2013, an 18" incision down my back. There were a lot of complications and pain. After 6 months I was ready to leave this world. Obviously, I made it but don't want a repeat. Mayos sounds like right choice this time. Thanks again.

Thank you so much for your reply. I didn't know a total arch replacement is a possibility. I am beginning to have hope and feel like I have a good chance. Thanks again.