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finally met with thoratic surgeon
met with thoratic surgeon who tells me I do not have a classic bulging aneurism. He is tellimg me that my overall aorta is just big. He says it is 4.9 which is what it was originally diagnosed at. He says he has big doubts that he will ever HAVE to operate on me unless I chose to have it done out of caution. He says bigger people have bigger veins ( I'm 6ft 240 lb.) He even suggested going to yearly scans. I have a scan in Nov. and am planning to get my gp to set me up with a second opinion from another surgeon in Seattle or Spokane. As much as his diagnosis gives me great hope I still want an opinion from one of the heavy hitters in the city.
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I would still get a second opinion with someone at a high volume facility that specializes in these things. I had a local cardiologist tell me I was fine in January 2024 and had 3 catheter procedures between Aug 6 and Sep 4th, and open heart surgery on Sep 10th, all at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. The Sep 4th procedure was to block off a large fistula from a bronchial artery to pulmonary artery which required 12 platinum coils. That was to setup the open heart surgery on Sep 10th which took over 14 hours. If my primary care and I had listen to the local guy and hospital, I wouldn't be here. The 2nd opinion turned out to be a big deal.
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3 ReactionsDefinitely get a second opinion from a thoracic surgeon who specializes in aneurysms. Maybe even a third opinion. While it makes sense that larger people would have larger aortas, 4.9 seems very very unusual. I am 6’2” and was 250 pounds when my aneurysm was diagnosed in 2012. I was told an aorta size of 4.0 or less was normal for my size.