Last Monday I had an appointment with my surgeon, Keith Allen. Wonderful guy and skilled surgeon. He explained what an aortic dissection is and what happened during my operation. Apparently the aorta is the main artery that carries blood to the rest of your body. It's shaped like a cane and has three layers. I had an aortic aneurism or a weakness/bulge in the aorta that was diagnosed last year.  On May 8th this year. the aneurysm tore or split (the dissection) sending blood to places within the aorta that aren't supposed to get it, causing further damage. That's what happens in most cases but in my case, Dr Allen said for some reason,  that didn't happen. So the good news is I can return to everything I've done in the past with no restriction or fear of having to go through another procedure later to repair additional damage. The not so good news is I still have to overcome the damage caused by the stroke which I'm working on every weekday at Ability KC and doing homework exercises on the weekend.  Actually Ive gotten off pretty easily--weakness in my left arm,wrist and hand and a blind spot in my vision, which makes it difficult to read. However, the therapists all assure me that within six months to a year, these issues should be resolved.  So there you have it, pretty much the last chapter of this saga.  Not sure if I'll have any more posts but if anything of significance occurs, I'll let you know.