Susan's Profile

03/19/2020 I've never shared with strangers like this before. I was a healthy, active, adventurous 71 year old. Tryin to do all the right things. Tennis, yoga, walking and hiking and a great circle of friends defined my weekly routine. There was lots of travel in 2019, which I had put on the back burner during my professional career. Shortly after a three week trip to France (yes, during the heat wave), I went to my scheduled 4 month visit with my primary care doctor. Felt good, no adverse symptoms. My blood pressure had always been an issue, but it had been pretty well controlled with medication and life style. My doc suggested a coronary calcium score, based on some family history with heart disease. and voila! there is was...Although looking for other things, the procedure incidentally revealed a 4.7 cm aneurysm in the ascending aorta. So that's where this journey really began. Lots of testing and imaging followed....By December, the new imaging revealed we were at 5 cm. I was in a wait, watch and see mode, but I felt like a time bomb. I wasn't me anymore. The thought of a rupture was always "there", so I headed to Houston for a second opinion and decided to proceed. Things were not gonna get better and I was only getting older. The time seemed right. I'm anxious and scared. All family is out of town. But at the same time I was positive and "ready"! (does that even make sense?). And now the corona virus. Elective surgeries at Baylor are on hold till the end of the month, and then things will be re-evaluated and we'll see. I can of course postpone the surgery on my own. I have so many questions I don't know where to start. Am I even on the right site? Surgeon says he is hopeful he can save the valve, but it depends what things look like once he's "in"! Susan