This story started 30 years ago. Early on a spring morning, my phone rang and I was told that my Dad woke during the night with severe chest pain. After being treated for a heart attack they realized that instead, a thoracic aortic aneurysm had ruptured. He was pronounced dead on the helipad at Providence Hospital in Portland where he had been life-flighted in hopes of getting life-saving surgery. He had no symptoms beforehand and no one had any idea that he was in danger. He was 59.
Fast forward to 2021. While working in my garden I noticed that I easily became short of breath and sometimes sometimes felt my heart racing. I eventually told my doctor about it and was put on a monitor for a month-long evaluation. There were recurring episodes of atrial fibrillation (not generally a serious condition) so I started some new meds and schedule an appointment with a cardiologist. That was the month I turned 60.
The cardiologist wasn't particularly concerned but agreed to do an echocardiogram just to rule out any anatomical problems. Unfortunately, it took two months to get it scheduled. In mid-January the echocardiogram showed that my heart was pretty healthy... but my ascending aorta and aortic root (where it attaches to the heart) was quite dilated--nearly twice the diameter of a normal aorta. The cardiologist scheduled a CT-A (Computed Tomography Angiography) scan with contrast to get better images of my thoracic vascular system. It confirmed the echocardiogram findings. (Incidentally, they also found a 2cm mass in my kidney, which will need to be evaluated at some point--but kidney cysts are common in my family so hopefully, it won't be anything serious.)
Aortic aneurysms don't get better by themselves... they only get worse. Because of the family history, I am at increased risk of dissection or rupture. Interestingly (but not in a fun way), I'm also at much higher risk because I am a woman. Yay.
I've been referred to OHSU's Cardiothoracic surgery unit and am waiting for them to process the referral so I can schedule an appointment and plan our next steps, which will most likely eventually lead to surgical replacement of my ascending aorta (a major open surgery involving a heart lung bypass machine). It's scary, but I'm very grateful that we found out about it and will hopefully have time to take care of it before it becomes a crisis. In the meantime, the doctor increased my dosage of blood pressure medicine to relieve some of the pressure on my aortic walls.
I've created this page to help keep our family and friends informed without having to tell the same story over and over again--or accidentally forgetting to tell someone what's happening (which I already discovered is very easy to do when trying to keep a number of people up-to-date).
Please don't feel like you have to comment or say the right thing. I know from experience that there is no perfect thing to say or do. It's encouraging just to know that people care enough to check in on my progress. (And don't feel like you have to donate to CaringBridge. It's a nice tool for us, but I suspect they're doing fine.)
[Sappy-part warning] I am optimistic that we've caught this in time to fix it before it ruptures, which is the greatest risk and would greatly decrease my chances of survival. The surgery isn't without risk either, but for someone my age who is otherwise healthy, the odds are definitely in my favor. Jerry and I still plan to have a bunch of years doing fun things together in retirement. Nevertheless, no matter what, I've had an amazing, rewarding, and beautiful life surrounded by the very best people. Don't feel sorry for me if this ends up being all I get, because it's been pretty damned fantastic! Ha! But I don't expect to be gotten rid of that easily--I still have a bunch of stuff I'd *love* to do.
OK, I'm done being sappy and dramatic. From now on I'll be making every effort to get well.
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