2nd July had an ecocardiogram after an incidence of chest-tightening & sweating, with some loss of visual acuity. Two weeks later, after my M & his MA had tried like Hell to reach me -- in the interim, my phone had gone blinkered & I had started using a new number -- found out I had a 5 cm aneurysm (congenital) on my ascending aorta. After a few missteps -- namely, a covering surgeon who plainly did not want to work a weekend; he was covering for the surgeon mentioned in my charts by my family doctor -- I ended up in the operating room on 22nd July. A coupla clean snips -- the surgeon who did operate had the steady hand to spare my aortic valve (which, unlike the tissue otherwise, was normal, tri-petal & such not) -- & a synthetic implant later, plus a week in ICU & recovery, & I am back home. On the mend, still, but home, & feeling pretty damn good, actually.

shit, monty - hope you're ok and get to feeling better soon!

rest up and feel better Monty.

Whoa man, get some rest, glad you're alright

Damn. Glad to hear you're ok. You're a lucky man. Marfan's?

glad to hear you're alright

woah, glad you now feel good.

yeah no kidding, how old are you

holy christ man. take it easy

Holy shit. You are one lucky man. Here's to years more crankiness for you.

I hope you hit on the nurses in bizarre non-sequitors and run on sentences with full paragraph digressions. And, I hoped you're getting better.

Damn, that specific type of aneurysm have leveled more than a few people in my family. Congrats on a successful intervention.

That's some scary shit. Glad to hear that you're on the road back. Get your rest, watch good movies, and listen to good music.

For sure. Scary shit.

Wow, man. Glad you're OK.

Hope you have a good recovery, Monty.

Never thought I'd say this, but glad to see you posting, Monty. Hoping for a quick and easy recovery for you.

Damn Monty. Get well soon man. That's a pretty big life check to put things in perspective.

Glad you're all right.




Note to self: make sure phone # is up to date while waiting on medical prognosis.

Prolly not Marfan's. I don't think it were totally ruled out, but no indication to say it were, at all.

& I'm only 30. No significant family history of this, either (best we know). Second cousin on the West Coast -- maternal grandmother's nephew -- had a cerebral aneurysm in his 30s & a few of my paternal grandmother's brothers dropped in their fifties with what were described as "cardiac deaths" (but it was the 50s/60s so no idea how much pathology was done; more likely, "oh, death is in the heart, heart attack, easy peasy").

Also: luck on my side, since aneurysm had expanded from 5 cm to 5.6 by time of surgery, & was dissecting.

Glad to hear you are doing alright, Monty.

Life-changer for sure. Glad it was discovered and taken care of in time. Get well, Monty.

Glad everything is working out - sounds terrifying.

i always thought you had one of these years ago.

good to hear you're ok, though.

What he said (GARchipelago)

Probably my second favorite Nirvana song. Get well.