brunoandbear
Well-known member
I just saw the thread, as it has been a while since I've been here. Bigred, I would be concerned about the pain that you are having. I had surgery back in April to correct a 5.6 cm Aneurysm but here's the thing: I had been living with a 4.5 cm enlargement (or Aneurysm) for the past 3 years and then, suddenly, it grew to 4.65 cm in a 6 month period and then in another 8 months grew to 5.6 cm. I had been having chest pain for the last eight years.
The pain was more of a dull pain in the middle of my sternum, with stabbing there along with occasionally stabs on either side and at times, I would have a pulsing stabbing on my left side of the chest that would last for a few days at a time. Of course, looking back, I now know this is because my aneurysm was growing and finally found relief by having the surgery.
If I were you, if you opt to wait, is to begin preventative measures now to at least slow the growth. Go on a very low salt diet (1200 mg or less a day assuming you are in good health, you need at least 600 mg), limit all lifting that you do and no hyper-strenuous activity. Lowering your sodium intake dramatically will do wonders for your blood pressure. That alone caused my aneurysm to shrink from 5.6 cm to 5.1/5.2 cm in the month and a half I was waiting for my surgery. Of course, this shrinkage was temporary.
When my surgeon got in he did notice that the walls of my aorta were rather thick. I think this is what saved my life as I love the outdoors and go hiking in the mountains whenever I can. It could have ruptured and there would have been nothing anyone could have done.
Like Ross mentioned, they can go at any time. Statistics are just that--you might have an average risk at 5.0 cm which is greater than surgery risk, but you have to realize that in order to get that average risk, there are some cases that had lower risk, and, in the case of Ross and briansmom's son, some that had significantly higher risk even below 5.0 cm. It all depends on your genetics (I am assuming you had a bicuspid aortic valve) and your lifestyle. Please be cautious with this. The surgery hurts, but after you go through it, the pain isn't so bad compared with the joy you will experience knowing you made it and have been fixed.
The pain was more of a dull pain in the middle of my sternum, with stabbing there along with occasionally stabs on either side and at times, I would have a pulsing stabbing on my left side of the chest that would last for a few days at a time. Of course, looking back, I now know this is because my aneurysm was growing and finally found relief by having the surgery.
If I were you, if you opt to wait, is to begin preventative measures now to at least slow the growth. Go on a very low salt diet (1200 mg or less a day assuming you are in good health, you need at least 600 mg), limit all lifting that you do and no hyper-strenuous activity. Lowering your sodium intake dramatically will do wonders for your blood pressure. That alone caused my aneurysm to shrink from 5.6 cm to 5.1/5.2 cm in the month and a half I was waiting for my surgery. Of course, this shrinkage was temporary.
When my surgeon got in he did notice that the walls of my aorta were rather thick. I think this is what saved my life as I love the outdoors and go hiking in the mountains whenever I can. It could have ruptured and there would have been nothing anyone could have done.
Like Ross mentioned, they can go at any time. Statistics are just that--you might have an average risk at 5.0 cm which is greater than surgery risk, but you have to realize that in order to get that average risk, there are some cases that had lower risk, and, in the case of Ross and briansmom's son, some that had significantly higher risk even below 5.0 cm. It all depends on your genetics (I am assuming you had a bicuspid aortic valve) and your lifestyle. Please be cautious with this. The surgery hurts, but after you go through it, the pain isn't so bad compared with the joy you will experience knowing you made it and have been fixed.
