Hi Hank,
Here's the deal. Surgery is surgery - nothing to scoff at or minimize. Heart surgery is scary. Things can happen.
However....
As you will see from many people here, its bark is worse than its bite. Many of us will tell you that we were stunned at doable it was. You are WAY ahead of the curve because you are in GREAT shape. That alone puts you in a great position. Plus you're young (relatively speaking!). Check! Then you need a really great mental attitude. Oh, a make sure you have a surgeon who does this type of surgery in his or her sleep - in other words, LOTS of ascending aorta repairs. Some surgeons specialize in the aorta and even if you go with one that doesn't, remember: This is their day job.
For perspective: My surgery was seven months ago. I had my ascending aorta repaired, plus my aortic root and valve replaced with a single bypass thrown in as a bonus. I was then 67. I was in good shape but nowhere as good a shape as you are. Even with a minor complication that was more of an annoyance than anything, I pretty much sailed through it. Recovery was unremarkable (or remarkable in the sense that it was pretty straightforward.) I followed all of the lung-breathing/walking instructions I was given and started working my day job the day after I got home from the hospital (Day 11 - surgery was in Cleveland; I live in San Diego.) As expected, I was slower-than-usual, rested generally for 15-30 mins when I got tired (as in feeling that I could fall asleep sitting up at my desk) and was foggy at times. But I kept pushing my brain. (I work from home and research/write.)
I now have a 9" souvenir on my chest that is fading. If it wasn't here I wouldn't know anything had been done.
It's crazy!!!!
The first few days are not a party, but just keep hitting that fentanyl button (don't be a hero - the goal is to get ahead of the pain) and I promise that you probably will forget most of it. My guess is that you will to exceedingly well. Yes, there are risks, as there are every day we step foot out of bed. Whatever you do keep yourself in shape pre-surgery. You might not be able to do resistance, but if your doctor says walking/running is ok, do it until the day they wheel you in.
The good news about engaging on this forum and/or others is that you will get plenty of opinions with differing outcomes, including complications. My approach was to over-research, including any/every study I could get my hands on. Every video I could watch. (Keith posted several exceptional ones here a few days ago.) I'm a former journalist, so I wanted to know everything - what could go wrong and right and what the range was. I did not want
any surprises. In general, there were none.
If you ever want to chat, feel free to reach out and we can set up a call. Others here made the offer to me and it was greatly helpful. My turn to pay it forward.
Cheers!
Herb
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Herb Greenberg
San Diego CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-05-2020 14:18
From: hank Lanzo
Subject: Need some guidance
Gd afternoon everyone, 1st time posting, in 2009, me echo showed 4.1 cm thoracic aeorta, aug of 2019 grew to 5.0 cm and sept 2020 stayed at 5cm. both CT imaging and eco showed the same.I have visited the Cleveland clinic in Weston, Florida last Friday and spoke to one of the top thoracic surgeons, he told me he wanted to give me another ecogram in 3mos to keep close tabs on it and also said that I was a candidate e for surgery, at 51 the word aneurysm scared the living hell out of me. I am in the best shape of my life 6'0 200lbs always have been a workout guy, haven't touched any heavy weights in a long time, lots of cardio and resistance training. my cardiologist put me on 50mg metoprolol (bp med) 110/70 range right now and 20mg of rosuvastatin for cholesterol. I'm married 22 years with a 19 and 16 year old. I live a very active lifestyle and now I have to really take it down a bunch of notches. i'm concerned that mentally the thought of a possible rupture or tear will lie heavily on my mind and cause a great deal of anxiety. if anyone has any advice here, it would be greatly appreciated. I want to get in front of this, I understand it will not get smaller, so inevitably surgery will have to happen. So now I am processing. The thought of open heart surgery is not an eay pill to swallow, but neither is the alternative, so if anyone has a similar sitch and how they dealt with it, I wd greatly appreciate to hear from you. I am visting another surgeon in broward county at holy cross hospital this Thursday. Thanks for everyones time Hank
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hank Lanzo
boca raton FL
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