<p>The brother of a very close friend has been diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm and is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. He is in a large teaching hospital which has a unit that specializes in this type of vascular surgery so, if there is any blessing in this awful situation, it is his location. I’m wondering if there is anything in particular which the family should be asking of the surgeon, any questions at all? What should they expect? I’m going down to support her and the family in any way I can and I realize, as do they, that it’s a good idea to have someone stay with the patient 24/7 while hospitalized. Any other information or suggestions anyone could give is greatly appreciated. Please send us some good thoughts. Thank you.</p>
<p>always~</p>
<p>I have no experience with this, but I just wanted to send some {{{{hugs}}}} and well wishes to your close friend’s brother as he faces this surgery. How wonderful for your friend that you will be there to support her. Sometimes we forget about how the SUPPORT people need support too! Hope all goes beautifully and that he makes a full and fast recovery.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>I wish I could help but I can’t. I just wanted to lend my support and thoughts to your friend’s brother and am glad he will have so many people there to help him through this experience.</p>
<p>A wealth of information here:</p>
<p><a href=“University of West Georgia | UWG”>University of West Georgia | UWG;
<p>My father had one repaired several years ago with a stent and had the stent replaced a couple of years ago. Sorry I don’t remember all the details as my mother and father were able to take care of it themselves. I do know ther are different stents made of different materials; I have no clue why one is better than the other. The second one my father had was part of a trial and it is possible that at a teaching hospital they have the newest and best.</p>
<p>My father did not need anyone to stay with him during his hospital stay and he was in his 60’s the first time. I do know that he has to have scans every so often to make sure the stent hasn’t moved. His is near his bladder, so it was placed in a very tiny area and had to be placed just so.</p>
<p>If you need any other details, PM me and I will ask my dad. Sorry I am not being much help, but I think I just don’t remember the details as well as I should. My husband is a surgeon, so I have a habit of ignoring what the other doctors say and asking my husband to repeat in the Reader’s Digest form!</p>
<p>My grandmother and my elderly neighbor have had abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs. Both did very well with the surgery and recovered nicely. The thing that is so dangerous about these type aneurysms is not the repair, but the failure to diagnose the condition before rupture. Because the abdominal aorta is so huge and carries such a large blood supply, a rupture can be deadly within minutes. (In the Princess Diana accident, the force of the impact ruptured her abdominal aorta which is why she didn’t really have a chance.) This pretty much sums up my knowledge of the condition unfortunately.</p>
<p>I would ask if they will do a epidural or a ‘block’ so that your friend’s brother has a little easier time of it pain-wise during recovery. This is common for heart surgeries and mastectomies. And my experience is that it is very helpful if a family member stays with the patient at all times during the hospital stay. (I’m not sure if your friend’s brother will be in ICU at first; but when my mom was in ICU for the PE, they allowed one family member to stay overnight in the vicinity of the ICU.)</p>
<p>I should have said that my father didn’t NEED anyone day and night, but one of us was there from around 7:00am-11:00pm. I have found through my hospital stays and expecially my parents that having someone there for you at the beginning is always best; someone that looks out for only you! I know this will sound rather trite, but after my hysterectomy I was pretty alert so I send my husband home for the night. I was not able to get out of bed due to a cath and some other monitoring devices. Well I had the nurse from hell! This women would come in the room, turn on every light, and then leave to answer her cell phone or go to another room; each time leaving the door wide opened. Did I mention I was across from the nurses station? I could hear all their conversations and could not sleep. This happened 4 times during the night. Each time I would buzz for someone to come turn the light off and close the door, but usually no one came in a timely fashion. I felt like a problem patient, but I wasn’t the one coming in the room and leaving the door opened and the lights on.</p>
<p>When I was ready to leave the next day we could not get a nurse to take my cath out so I could go home. I had been discharged by the doctor so all I needed was the cath removed. My husband got so fed up that he removed the cath himself (he is a surgeon!) </p>
<p>So my suggestion would to have someone around just to make sure everything goes well.</p>
<p>With any surgical procedure, it’s wise to learn as much as possible beforehand. By law, surgeons are required to obtain “informed consent”, which means describing the procedure, the expected outcome, and possible complications. People being what they are, no one wants to believe that a complication is possible, but of course they happen. In vascular as in any surgery, it’s key to select a surgeon and a facility that are very, very used to performing the procedure. How many of these operations has the surgeon performed? What are his/her complication rates? (It’s not rude to ask these things.) Make it clear that you want the surgeon, not a resident or other person, performing the procedure. Who will be doing the anesthesia? People forget about anesthesia, but in fact the anesthesiologist is in charge of the patient while the procedure is being performed. His/her role is crucial. Encourage your friend’s family member to be completely honest about his/her medical history before the procedure, especially with regard to drug and alcohol intake, if pertinent. Substance withdrawal postoperatively adds significant risk, but can be helped IF the medical team knows about it beforehand.</p>
<p>After surgery, the single most important thing that visitors can do for a patient is to make sure each and every person entering the patient’s room WASHES HIS OR HER HANDS. It’s news to a lot of people that resistant micro-organisms are rampant in hospitals, but they are. Visitors can be a patient’s eyes, ears and advocate. If you think something is wrong, speak up. If a nurse or other hospital employee is inconsiderate, it probably affects more people than just one. Hospitals have patient advocacy departments for this reason. Ask to speak to a patient representative if you have complaints. Ask to speak to the nurse manager. Be an agent of change if you are dissatisfied.</p>
<p>Lastly, do your part as a patient. If something is wrong, speak up. If you or your loved one is having a symptom, report it. Study the Patient’s Bill of Rights. Learn all you reasonably can about what to expect from your hospitalization. Lastly, please make sure that you or your loved one has named a surrogate (via the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care) to speak on his/her behalf should they become incapacitated…yes, another thing that people think will never happen to them. It does. Make your wishes known, and make sure your surrogate will respect them. </p>
<p>My best wishes for your friend’s speedy recovery.</p>
<p>ALWAYSMOM - My MIL had a AAA repair - surgically - and did very well. You have been some good info above. It will depend on which procedure they are doing - surgical repair or placement of a stent.</p>
<p>This site has a very video series - with excellent info - hope it helps.
<a href=“http://www.goremedical.com/aneurysm/patient?xcmp=004goo1[/url]”>http://www.goremedical.com/aneurysm/patient?xcmp=004goo1</a></p>
<p>My one suggestion would be to have a Visiting Nurse when he goes home - to monitor his progress closely on discharge - my best wishes to your friend for a speedy recovery. Keep us informed when you can.</p>
<p>Thank you to all of you, you’re all very kind. I will pass along all the good wishes for tomorrow. The care he has received in the past couple of days leading up to tomorrow’s surgery has, by all accounts, been fabulous. The hospital where he is is known for this type of vascular surgery and the surgeon himself is said to be the best in the northeast. The family has had wonderful open communication with every healthcare professional in the unit, several doctors (it seems that there is a team for every aspect of the surgery), the nursing care has been fantastic, even the food service workers have been great (funny note, they call it Room Service for the food delivery). A social worker has been in to discuss post-op care including homecare, physical therapy if necessary, and future appointments. There are two residents who have been in to visit daily regarding pain management for after the surgery. So, all in all, the family and patient are as comfortable as can be expected at this point. </p>
<p>Jeepmom, they are doing surgical repair. Thank you again to all of you.</p>
<p>BEST wishes to him. It sounds like he is getting fabulous care and will get through it all.</p>
<p>Again, thanks to all of you for your information and for your good wishes. The surgery (10 1/2 hrs of it!) went well and his first day in ICU went very well, better than even the doctors had hoped for. Initially, the family was told it would probably be a week before he was ‘awake’ and aware of who was there. Instead, he was awake and conversing with everyone this morning. One day at a time. Thank you for your thoughts and please keep them coming on the long haul ahead.</p>
<p>Wonderful news!! I hope he continues to improve as the days go on. As my father had a stent instead of a repair, I am not familar with the recovery, but I do know it is a very big surgery.</p>
<p>Sending well wishes to all.</p>
<p>My father had a AAA deep in his groin area, near the branching into the legs, about 5 years ago. The pain was enormous pre-surgery. His started to leak while waiting for surgery and the doctor said it was highly unusual to see that, as they tend to either be pre-leak or the patient has already bled out.
He had a tough time but it was due to emphysema which complicated his recovery. </p>
<p>If you read more about AAAs they are possiblly alot more common than thought, with many sudden deaths attributed to heart attacks.</p>
<p>In any event, given my father’s experience, I will get regular ultrasounds when I hit 60 or so because the diagnosis, repair (or leave it alone) of the average AAA is a routine surgery. It took the technician about 10 seconds to pick up my father’s AAA on the imaging equipment.</p>
<p>My MIL’s was diagnosed about 6 years prior to when she had the surgery - they monitored it every 6 months - and when it decided to start to enlarge - that was the time to do the surgery - she was very healthy prior to the surgery and did well post - tho was a long recoup - the doctor told her it was basically an elective procedure at that time - instead of an emergency one that it could/would have been later on :)</p>
<p>ALWAYSAMOM - any news??</p>
<p>always~</p>
<p>I’m so glad to hear that the surgery went well and that he was conversing with his family so soon afterward! Sending healing thoughts and prayers for a continued successful and speedy recovery! love, ~berurah</p>
<p>Thank you all for your continued concern and info. The patient is doing very well and according to his doctors, they’ve never seen such a remarkable recovery. He’s in the stepdown ICU now and is up out of bed a couple of times a day, with a walker, mind you. </p>
<p>Considering that this was the largest aneurysm that this surgical team has ever seen, and they’ve done thousands of these procedures, it’s even more remarkable. According to the lead surgeon, this is the most major and extensive surgery that a human can have. The family asked, even more than a heart transplant (which this hospital also does) and he said, yes.</p>
<p>The recoup is going to be a long one, you’re right, jeepmom, but all is going well so far and the family is incredibly thankful to have the opportunity to help him through the recuperation. One thing, additionally, that the surgeon said was that all first degree relatives should get an immediate abdominal ultrasound, as these tend to ‘run in families’. So, hvccgolf, you may want to inquire with your primary care physician about this. This particular surgeon did not suggest waiting until each person was aged 60. This patient is only 51, so waiting til 60, in the absence of symptoms, in this case would almost certainly have been fatal.</p>
<p>always~</p>
<p><em>SO</em> glad to hear of the continued amazing recovery!! It sounds like he’s got a wonderful support system working for him, and sometimes this can make such a difference. I didn’t realize that these things run in families. Thanks for sharing that and possibly sparing someone else a disastrous outcome. Continued best wishes going out…</p>
<p>~b.</p>
<p>My dad died from an aortic aneurysm. It was discovered when he was still in his 50’s, but at the time the surgery to correct was extremely risky and only being done in a one or two cities. By the time the surgery to correct the anuerysm was readily available, he was in thought to be in too delicate a condition to survive the surgery. I am so happy to see that people can now do so well and I concur that waiting makes no sense.</p>
<p>alwaysamom,</p>
<p>So glad to hear of your friend’s brother’s progress after the surgery to repair the aneurysm. I’m sure that fact that he was in such excellent and experienced hands had a great deal to do with the remarkable recovery so far. Finding the right person or team of doctors can make all the difference. Wishing him all the best on the road back to great health.</p>