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Thoracic aortic aneurysm: Anyone had surgery?

Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: May 24 7:13am | Replies (250)

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@hsminc

What size is your aneurysm and where is it? You need to know how he made this decision so you can decide if it is the RIGHT decision.
Certainly weight loss and a healthy life style will help keep you safe but trusting a specific cardiac surgeon may be okay - or it may not be.

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Replies to "What size is your aneurysm and where is it? You need to know how he made..."

I was sent to a hospital ER for an unrelated issue. While in the exam room he comes in and says “we are transferring you to a trauma hospital”. I asked him why and he said I had a celiac (aortic) aneurism and “you are being transferred to the trauma hospital for emergency surgery” for my known aneurism. ( Yearly checkups). He said my aneurism had a tear in it. By reading my doctors notes in the hospital portal I think I had a 3cm aneurism. In that aneurism there was a dissection but I don’t know what size it was.

They found it through a CT scan. The trauma hospital acknowledged my torn aneurism and they were going to admit me but the “team” felt i was stable enough to be discharged because it wasn't bleeding.
My instructions were to go and see my cardiovascular surgeon ASAP.

I made an “emergency” appointment the following day. A radiologist did a sonogram of my lower left quadrant abdomen. I then was escorted to an exam room. Did you know that he showed signs of being annoyed? He made light of my issue (even laughing at one point) and said that “I didn’t see anything!” and “see you next year!” As he’s racing out the door I asked him if it could burst. He said “it could, but we have ways to deal with that”

What is he talking about? Isn’t a burst aneurism an emergency that could be fatal if i don’t get to the hospital in time?
Suppose I collapsed while jogging? Most people think it must be having a heart attack and my torn aneurism would not be addressed. Therefore, I could die.

On top of that, i’m on a blood thinner because I had a mechanical aortic valve installed through open heart surgery back in 2015. (Now they can do it a lot less evasive). Now i am thinking.
My blood INR values go up (thin blood, or down, thick blood) so my blood being thin might leak through my tear. Or too thick, good for a stroke. What now?

5.4 ascending aortic aneurism involves the arch. I would agree 2nd opinion not out of bounds.
"to me quality of life superceeds quantity".