TAA post surgery questions

Have you cheduled your surgery yet?

I am now roughly 6 weeks post surgery, and feel pretty good overall, and with being able to move more, I do feel more soreness with the extra activity. I still wonder if I can expect any changes from prior to my diagnosis. I am surprised how difficult it is to get a straight answer.

Frank

Appt. last Wednesday with Dr. Esterera in Houston.  Wants to wait til it reaches 4.5cm to have elective surgery.  Now, at 4.2cm.  I really like him and he was very easy to talk with.  A little more calm after the consult but still have thoughts about it all.  Especially, re-cuperating at home, pain level, how long and how severe are you incapacitated and needing help to function each day, etc.  I'm so glad he is pro elective surgery rather than waiting til 5cm which at my size, would probably dissect and have to have emergecy surgery.  He also confirmed, the reason additional surgeries are needed after dissection is that there is so much damage done, all they do is keep you alive with minimal surgery until your body heals and can tolerate the additional surgeries. Also, I'd still like a better answer on quality of life afterwards.  What do you think at this time?  Sure pray you are having a daily "feel better today" and can bounce back.   

I knew right away that I needed to fix the issue that in my mind was going to take my life someday. I was really scared in the beginning, but became much less worried when I was told that once the aneurysm was fixed, I would be back to “normal”. I am still sore and at times uncomfortable, but honestly feel that it is a small price to pay to be healthy. Personally, my biggest issue with recovery is the inability to do things, getting in and out of bed early on was a nightmare, impossible actually, so I chose to sleep in the seated position. Otherwise, I would not be able to get up and out of bed. You’re basically limited to using your elbows for support, you cannot put pressure on the chest. The process overall was not bad, I would do it all over again, and would recommend it to anyone in our positions. Home recovery for me was in my opinion fairly easy, I was told to basically sit still and recover, unless I was going for a walk, and I recommend walking and using the breathing machine(tube). Try to keep a positive outlook, and not let the new you keep you from fully recovering, I am told that many people struggle with the change in circumstances, and not being able to perform the way they did prior to surgery. I knew early on that nothing would be the same for me, so I am trying to spin everything into a positive (easier said than done). I recommend taking the pain medication once you’re home until you feel that you don’t need it on a set schedule. I went from every 4 hours to 5 then 6 and so on, and try to get up as often as you feel is safe, try to get up and walk every day, because you will need to go to cardiac rehab at some point, and they want you to move. Again with my surgery being 6 weeks ago, i am beginning to feel like I am back to my old self, not physically yet, but in other ways, and am more optimistic, as I feel like I have been given a second chance at life.

Please feel free to reach out and ask any questions you may have, I am open to talking about any of my experiences.

 

 

Frank

Frank, thanks so much for sharing. Hope you're doing well now.