Abdominal aortic aneurysm: How did you do with AAA surgery?

Well, thank you for the reply. I'm sorry I erred. I am having endovascular repair. I mistakenly called in endoscopic. Some good news. I'm Covid negative Thank God for small blessings. Also had a blood typing. (O Positive). That's because the surgical team will have blood on hand, so I was told. I reckon that's so if the whole thing goes south and endovascular suddenly turns into open repair. Reckon that also explains why the ventilator that I'm told will be used. That's a bit more involved than the cardiac angiogram I once had. (Long and troubling story involving broken rib and chest pain). That was with a local and I got to watch dye diffuse through my arteries. Whee!!!!

Surgery is Thursday. One day in hospital if all goes well. Anyone have experience getting back to a vigorous normal after endovascular AAA repair?

No endovascular repair, but recent laparoscopic surgery. Just a gentle reminder that anesthesia, intubation and doctors poking around in your body are traumatic and require time. Your body may treat it all as an insult.

Give yourself about 48-72 hours for the drugs to work their way completely out of your body. The vent will leave your throat tender or sore (depending on device used) for a few days - I was very happy for soothing popsicles and warm broth for a couple days. Please follow the activity/lifting restrictions. My RN daughter, who thought she was Superwoman, ended up in the ER after popping internal stitches from a laparoscopic surgery by lifting prematurely.

Good luck tomorrow!
Sue

It's great to have a surgical team with a sense of humor. I got a sinus swab for MRSA, and told the nurse that I used to date a woman named MRSA...or was it Martha. And she cracked up. The anesthesiologist told me he was inducing with Propofol.. I said "Jackson Juice. Will I be able to moonwalk when I wake up". Not missing a beat, he said "Can you moonwalk now?" Yes, I use humor to deal with stress. And then it was dark...

I recall a brief argument with the post op team. I wanted to roll on my side, and they preferred that I didn't. I hope I wasn't thrashing or anything. Then I woke up again. I apologized if I was any trouble, and the nurse said they were used to people coming out of anesthesia

Not much else to say. Spent the night, drank about 3 liters of water (I must have been dry). Friday morning they yanked two IV's and an arterial line, I got dressed, walked the hallway a bit, talked to my doctor, and went home.Just walked about a half mile, and I'm done for now, I'm a bit sore, even my neck and back. And I feel like a Proud Boy kicked me in the groin. A 10 pound weight restriction? My roaster weighs more than that, and the turkey is 20 lbs. Oh, well. That's what children are for, eh.

Thanks for the conversation and support. I think I'm good, or I will be when the pain meds kick in. Thanx again.

It's great to have a surgical team with a sense of humor. I got a sinus swab for MRSA, and told the nurse that I used to date a woman named MRSA...or was it Martha. And she cracked up. The anesthesiologist told me he was inducing with Propofol.. I said "Jackson Juice. Will I be able to moonwalk when I wake up". Not missing a beat, he said "Can you moonwalk now?" Yes, I use humor to deal with stress. And then it was dark...

I recall a brief argument with the post op team. I wanted to roll on my side, and they preferred that I didn't. I hope I wasn't thrashing or anything. Then I woke up again. I apologized if I was any trouble, and the nurse said they were used to people coming out of anesthesia

Not much else to say. Spent the night, drank about 3 liters of water (I must have been dry). Friday morning they yanked two IV's and an arterial line, I got dressed, walked the hallway a bit, talked to my doctor, and went home.Just walked about a half mile, and I'm done for now, I'm a bit sore, even my neck and back. And I feel like a Proud Boy kicked me in the groin. A 10 pound weight restriction? My roaster weighs more than that, and the turkey is 20 lbs. Oh, well. That's what children are for, eh.

Thanks for the conversation and support. I think I'm good, or I will be when the pain meds kick in. Thanx again.

@anniejam I don't think how physically fit we are determines who gets an aneurysm. I think genetics play a huge role. It is simply a weakness in the artery wall. It can be triggered by consistently high blood pressure or by smoking or by obesity but not everyone who has high blood pressure or who has smoked or has been obese develops this condition.

We also need to remember that as a population, we are living much longer and medical science can find these abnormalities much more easily than in the past. Before CTs and MRIs, I think the only way to find the aneurysm was by autopsy. We are fortunate to be aware of our diagnosis while we are still kicking and have it monitored and repaired as necessary.

Afib can strike just about anyone, with or without an aneurysm repair. There are medications to treat that and also ablations of the heart muscle that is causing the afib. I wish your friend well.

My dad had an 10 cm abdominal aortic aneurysm repair done in Dec 2017 in Arkansas. In Dec 2018 we found out he had a bloodstream infection with MRSA. (Likely related to hospitalization for surgery in Dec 2017). He was also diagnosed with a spinal epidural abscess that Drs don’t recommend draining due to its small size. After 24 days in the hospital being treated with IV antibiotics he was released with negative blood cultures. 2 weeks later he is back in the hospital with positive MRSA blood cultures. It appears the MRSA may be I n the abdominal aortic repair and the spine. The Drs here don’t see these types of cases often (1 every 2-3 years) and we’re hoping they could consult a Mayo specialist. My dad is currently in the hospital fighting for his life so travel is questionable right now. We desperately would like for our Drs here (cardiology and infectious disease) to consult with specialists there on options/recommendations. If the specialist believe surgery is a viable option after reviewing scans, labs, his case, then we’d get my dad there for surgery. However, due to his current hospitalization, just going for an in person consult to find out they might not even consider surgery would put a tremendous strain on him. Can anyone weigh in? His Drs here don’t seem to know how to reach out or motivated to try. We’re desperate and time is of the essence.