Ascending Aortic Aneurysm

By the time you are ready for the treadmill and stationary bike, you will be a whiz on the stairs!

Ralele.
Thank you for wording it better than I could have.
I waited for months to see whats going on with my AAA. After 2 hrs the Doc came in the room and said 4.4 cm. I have had 4.6 before. How could it shrink I asked?
He tells me I didnt get the test done there before and the only way to be accurate it to have him do the test on the exact same machine, apples to apples. He said my last year measurement of 4.6 means nothing, and it could have been 3.5cm and now 4.4? I said isnt it more likely that the measurements are close and thats a good thing. He said no and wants to repeat the test in a year before speculation how fast its growing.
At 5 cm they operate and at 4 cm they watch, but the test could be off by 1? Wow.
Id like to forget about the whole thing but have read too much about doctors being wrong about these things. Off for another opinion.

Hello to all! New here, was told by a chiropractor this past summer that I need to go to see a cardiologist because I have an abdominal aneurysm 7.4 ... is this the same as the AAA discussed here? I know that one is in the chest and the other is in the belly, but that is about all I know. I had high blood pressure for years and was on HTCZ (sp?) And then one day at the docs she told me to stop taking it because my pressure had dropped too low...and after stopping the meds it's been staying close to normal. Four years ago I went in to see a cardiologist because of severe heart palpitations and shortness of breath and was told that I have 3 leaky valves and we just need to watch at this point. I asked my RA Dr. What he thought (he's the only Dr. I see) and he said that normally men get this, not women and that the men are usually over 60 yrs of age. Said I shouldn't worry about it. I am wondering if he just told me that because I don't have insurance?
I did call the cardiologist to ask if I had this when I was checked 4 years ago and was told that they don't routinely check for that.
I have fibromyalgia, RA & OA, degenerative disk disease, scoliosis, ocular migraines, and the list goes on.... resulting in anxiety that actually feels as tho I'm having a heart attack.. it really seems like not having insurance makes a lot of doctors tell me not to worry..... just go to the ER if anything happens.
I have for the most part given up on doctors for the past several years and only go to see my RA Dr. for a quick check and refills.
I have a very stressful life, 6 children, stressful job, no insurance, and to top it all off.... ran out of Cymbalta and going thru withdrawals! So busy at work and with kids I forgot to call.... didn't realise I was so low... and now it will take weeks to get them. Sigh.... maybe I should go over to the anxiety section...lol

Thanks everyone for the well wishes and the support. Ralele, I think my patience is born of necessity. It does help to have a strong, supporting wife and very close family. Or instead of patience it may just be resignation brought on by age. Honestly though, the surgery will happen when it's supposed to and not a minute sooner. My new scheduled date is December 10th, as they say, third times the charm.
Nightingale57, you're an inspiration to me and I'm sure to others on the forum as well. It gives us all hope when we see how well you've come through this. Thank you for posting on this board. The same goes for you jdiane.
ZDAD, hang in there, I feel your frustration with the doctors and the tests. What I have come to realize is how little they know about aortic aneurysms and how difficult it is to get a consensus on how to measure them. Keep at it until you find a doctor you feel you can trust.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! No matter how bad life kicks me around I can always find a truck load of blessings to be thankful for and I hope y'all can too!

LastBanana, thanks so much for the kind words! December 10 will be here before you know it, and I will be sending you positive thoughts on that day. You have a great attitude, and believe me, that is 90% of your recovery, so I know you will be okay. Can't wait to hear from you when you are home and it is all over with!

I walked through my door yesterday at 4:00 pm. Seven days and three hours after coming out of surgery. The procedure went very well and the surgeon was able to do a valve sparing repair. He told my family and later told me the same that it was a picture perfect surgery, maybe the best aneurysm repair he had performed. That means a lot, because I happen to know he does quite a few of these. My surgery was on the morning of the 10th, I ended up in a-fib on the 11th about 8:00 am and stayed in a-fib until the next day around 2:00 pm. Several bolus of amiodarone plus a drip was required to get that under control. I'll be on oral amiodorone for awhile as well. They also put me on colcrys, a gout anti-inflammatory. One of the off label uses is to reduce inflammation of the cardiac muscle, which can cause a-fib. and of course heparin to keep down the chance of clots. Had a bad case of the third day blues on Friday. Didn't want to talk, move or eat. Thanks to some very good nurses that turned completely around by Saturday daybreak.
When the doc did his rounds on Saturday he was ready to get me in a step down unit and out of ICU but he explained it was always difficult to accomplish on weekends. On Sunday he had them pull the last of my drains and told them to try harder to move me. It looked for awhile like I would, then my nurse came to me in the afternoon and told me they had a couple of surgery patients to deal with and the step down unit still had not discharged anyone to free up a room for me so I would be with them until Monday morning. I didn't mind as they were treating me so well, and they treated me like a step down pt. allowing me to get in and out of bed without them there and having freedom to roam the unit to get exercise.
My surgeons nurse walked in on Monday morning and said, "You look good." I thanked her and she said, "No you look great. Good enough to go home. Do you feel like going home tomorrow?" Guess what my answer was. They moved me immediately after that and I put some shoes on and started doing laps in the unit. Wore myself completely out but it felt good. After a nap I went back to walking.
The nurse came back with my surgeon later, between surgeries and they examined talked to me. He told me all of the nurses had been bragging on my progress and he thought I qualified as patient of the month.She recommended they discharge me the next day and they left without him saying yea or nay. Early yesterday morning she was back with more questions, more listening to my innards and the question again. Did I feel like I was ready. Yep. She was able to expedite the process and I left the hospital at about 11:40 am. I did have a little problem with fever last night after supper. It got to 101 and as per my instructions I called the service. My surgeon called back immediately with questions and told me take tylenol and to use my spirometer and to call if it went higher. It took about two hours to get below 100 and in four hours it was below 98.6. I believe the four hour ride and lake of exercise probably led to that issue.
On a scale of one to ten I feel a good, solid ten.

Had a little setback of sorts. Yesterday morning at 5:00 am I went into a-fib. It was bad enough I asked my wife to call 911 and request an ambulance. They were able to start a line and give me a bolus of Amiodarone, which was continued by drip at the hospital until about noon today. Fun times. I converted to normal sinus about 5:00 pm so this time I was only in it for 12 hours.

Thank you Nightingale57. I feels good to be able to say, "I had surgery." instead of saying, "I am scheduled for surgery."
Other than the effects of the Amiodorone I feel like I'm doing great. The incision has only hurt when I cough (or sneeze) but it's less today than yesterday and it will be less tomorrow than today.
I want to thank everyone for the good thoughts and I certainly want to wish everyone all the best during the holiday season!

Thank you Kitt, and the same to you!

Yep. Got my heart pillow close at hand all of the time. Coughing hurts less every day but I sneezed again this afternoon and it came so suddenly I didn't have my pillow hugged tight enough and got a dose of some very unique pain.
I've also been in afib since 4:30 am. Not bad enough I felt the need to go to an er, but very tiring. It's about 8:00 pm and it feels like it has almost converted to normal sinus, but not quite. My pulse is not nearly as irregular, my strength is back, my voice is getting stronger. maybe I'll sleep better tonight. I should have known it was coming on. Last night I was restless, in and out of bed with only a few minutes to an hour of sleep at a time.

Happy New Year to all.
LastBanana-So happy to hear you are through it and home in recovery. Yay.

As one who continues to watch and wait, I find all of the testimony to be so helpful, honest and encouraging.

hello-

I would like to thank you all for sharing your aaa experiences here. My 17yo son has a aaa 4.9cm and BAV. He was first diagnosed with BAV at 2 months of age and his aneurysm was first noticeable around 13yo. He is currently under the care of a pediatric cardiologist.

The hardest part is waiting in limbo, trying to tell him what he can and cannot do without upsetting him unnecessarily. He has recently had an MRA and I am waiting to hear back from his cardiologist regarding the size of his aneurysm and his recommendations. I called him Monday to discuss the results of his last MRA and am still waiting to hear back.

I am not sure where we will go when he requires surgery. Anyway it is helpful to read about your experiences here as no one else knows what I am talking about regarding aaa and BAV.

Thank you

Thank you LB.

We have known about this for so long but I always get anxious before/during the ultrasounds. I was especially stressed this last time because his measurement was 4.9cm and I know they start thinking about operating once it gets to 5.0cm. He is graduating from high school this year and I am hoping that when he does need a procedure done, it can be done during the summertime. So for now I am looking for information and it helps to hear other peoples' success stories.

He has been on Losartan 50mg am and pm for about 2 years now.

Post Edited (linda88) : 2/22/2014 5:43:45 AM (GMT-7)