About Me (In My Own Words)
I experienced tachycardia while painting my kitchen cabinets on 7/16/2017 and after 45 minutes, went to the ER. They kept me overnight and the following day I had an echo and was diagnosed with an enlarged aorta. A CT scan was scheduled for the next day and I was given the news that I had an ascending aortic aneurysm of 5.2cm and aortic valve regurgitation. The cardiac surgeon told me he wanted to see me in four months. I got a second opinion and the recommendation was follow up in three months. Meanwhile, my sister (a nurse) and other nurses I knew told me that I was in a dangerous situation and needed to just go ahead and have surgery. I met with a third surgeon and because my aneurysm was more than double the size of the rest of my aorta, I met criteria for surgery. It was scheduled for the following month. I had my surgery on a Monday and went home on Friday. Thankfully, my valve worked properly once the aneurysm was repaired with a Dacron graft. I had stopped all narcotics on Thursday and had very little pain, but my strength was gone! No complications but once home, I started having terrible coughing fits lasting 1-2 hours that I now believe were due to allergies/asthma. I found this site because now at 7 weeks out, I'm feeling jabbing pains in my right chest and am worried that I have a broken sternal wire. I found this site while trying to find other experiences with broken wires. I talked to my surgeon's PA yesterday and he doesn't think that's what's causing the pains, and said that if it's necessary, they wouldn't remove wires until I'm at least 8 weeks out. I'm giving it a couple more days and then might ask for a chest x-ray to see if a wire has broken if these pains don't cease. Otherwise, I feel back to normal now and have been doing cardiac rehab for just over a week.
More Info About Me & My Heart
More About Me
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I am from:
Torrance, CA
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My surgery date is:
October 9, 2017
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I was diagnosed with:
Aortic Regurgitation
Aortic Aneurysm
Atrial Fibrillation
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My surgery was:
Aortic Aneurysm Replacement
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My surgeon is:
Dr. Anthony Cafarelli
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My hospital is:
Hoag Hospital Newport Beach
