Ascending thoracic aneurysm: What should I do and not do?

Thank You

I have good news and bad news. The good news is my snippy cardiovascular surgeon got a phone call from my pcp telling him that he had to give me information regarding my aneurysm. I had another visit and the echo showed a 1.7 cm abdominal aneurysm said it’s not bleeding. Next thing he said was “ I have been monitoring your abdominal aneurysm for 10 years and your aneurysm is still 1.7 cm.

No change except it had a small tear in it. Not even worth mentioning it but I will look at it once a year. And he was nice to me because my pcp told him to do it as it’s bothering me not knowing anything.

I had to see an ENT for coughing and constantly clearing my throat plus my voice had become hoarse and it was difficult to talk and my throat hurt.
He stuck an endoscopy down my nose and said “ your right vocal cord is paralyzed.” He immediately sent me for 2 MRI’s, 2 CTscans and a video endoscopy. It’s another trip down my nose to determine what is it that is actually causing me this problem.
Now I have to go to the hospital under mild anesthesia as he is going to do another endoscopy with a camera and microphone attached to the end.
My recent CAT scan showed that my esophagus wich runs from your throat to just above your navel. I never knew it was that long but he has to go all the way down because tests show that my esophagus was narrowed at the abdomen level. There will be an attached balloon as well.
He plans on blowing up the balloon to expand my esophagus because eventually I could choke on my food.
I said ok if I have to by my gastroenterologist. Then he said “first things first “ he said that I had a spot on my right lung so I just came back from having another CT scan and I’m waiting for the results. My pulmonologist had to be called twice. First he said he was going to have a blood draw and hung up.
My ENT called him himself doctor to doctor and he told him that we are not looking for just a blood draw “I need pictures (the CTscan)” not just a blood draw.
A day later my pulmonologist called and said he needs me to get a CTscan. I’m on blood thinners due to my mechanical aortic valve I had replaced years ago.
He wants to see me before my March 4th procedure but he is very hard to pin down as he has admiting privileges for 2 hospitals and he has 5 offices spread out in my state.
I also need dental surgery that will need stitches “as you tend to bleed a lot”

So my hospital endoscopy and my gum surgeries are on hold until I pin him down for an appointment.
I didn’t mean to tell you my life’s problems but once I got started I couldn’t stop.
So that’s it. I’m on hold!

First, let me tell you that you have misunderstood the dimensions of your esophagus. Your esophagus does not run down to your navel area. Your esophagus runs from your throad down to the top portion of your stomach. Please pull up a diagram on line so that you can see for yourself.

I had another esophagus “stretch “ so I stop aspirating. It didn’t work so a week later I had a second one and it was another doctor and he said “ did your gastroenterologist tell you that you have an ulcer? I said no. One year later I failed the barium swallow test. The pill did not go into my stomach for over 5 minutes then they stopped the XRAY. My gastroenterologist scheduled a bigger “stretch”.
So far so good.
My test this time my gastroenterologist said he went down to my duodenum.
My stomach spinsher does not allow food to go down into my stomach on time. It eventually opens to allow food and liquids to flow down. The top part of my stomach won’t allow an easy passage so I aspirated to the point that the food backed up my esophagus and into my lungs. It gave me pneumonia. I had to be hospitalized for a week as I also developed sepsis.
The torn 1.7 aortic aneurysm was recently found to be at 3.9 and I’m on Coumadin and it is torn.
Apparently my doctor told me that he went down to the duodenum.

My right vocal cord is still paralyzed and I fractured my spine with 3 MRI’s coming up on the 28 of July.
The L1 vertebrae is compound fractured with nerve involvement and middle back and neck possible fractures. So food takes its time to get into my stomach but the endoscopy went down to somewhere around my duodenum. I will AI the esophagus. Thanks

Your duodenum is the lower part of your stomach. You have much to deal with and I wish you well. Knowing your body anatomy is key to understanding your test results.

Hi people, I'm a new guy. I'm 79 and have been following three anurisyms for years. An aortic root is now 5.3cm and one a couple inches up on the ascending aorta is about the same. My heart surgeon at Trinity in Hartford, CT., is very experienced and says it's time! I've been caring for my very ill wife for a long time and was hoping to try and hold off on surgury until she was gone. Do you think if I'm a couple of years older, that I may not be a good candidate for the surgery? I'm otherwise in fair shape. Maybe a little overweight and have parkenson's, but I do well with that! Any advice would be appreciated.