I did get a echocardiogram through my PCP about a month after my aneurysm was discovered. They need to make sure, at the very least, that you don't have a bicuspid aortic valve on your heart.

Then I got a referral to Brigham and Women's Shapiro Center and they ran a bunch of bloodwork, did another echo (because PCP's imaging center didn't check aortic valve), & did a temporal ultrasound to check for giant center arteritis. There was also a genetic panel for aortic aneurysm, mostly checks for connective tissue disorders. But Invitae's genetic panels are hardly exhaustive. But BWH was very thorough and followed standard of care. There just weren't obvious answers in my case. 🤷‍♀️

ANA & complement proteins came back highly positive, but we still have no idea what that means. Ultrasound was negative for GCA. And I had one variant on Invitae's genetic panel. I've been scanned, usually MRI, every six months and the aneurysm had gone from 4.7 to 5 cm in two years. No one seems real alarmed about that except me. Or they just don't have any answers as to how to slow an aneurysm's growth when it's decided it wants to grow.

So I definitely understand your anxiety. Since ascending aortic aneurysm means open surgery, I haven't just said, "Let's deal with this puppy." But it means living with a lot of anxiety.

Currently, I'm trying to just not think about it too much and start living as I want to live. Easier said than done.