Aorta Patient’s Perspective?

After Aortic Surgery, You’re Essentially On Your Own!

It can’t be helped!

It’s up to us, to help each other!

Much Appreciated Aortic Surgeons Are Too Busy, Saving Other Lives!

Aortic surgery is modern magic, that has saved my life, and that of countless others.

New aortic surgery techniques could have extended the life of Albert Einstein, but he was born too soon. They did what they could, with the tools of the time. Modern endovascular techniques have changed it all. Just watch the video, above!

Fifteenth tip: Buy copies of my book, and give them to your patients – just a thought! For further information, the author can be reached at kevin.t.morgan@earthlink.net

I was prompted to write this article by two recent events:

1. The story of a heart stent patient who wrote to me, as reported in one of my recent blog posts, entitled, Exercise With Heart Stent; Left To Figure It Out On My Own.
2. A conversation with another veterinary pathologist, a friend, about a patient who died, due to the attending physicians missing an ascending aortic rupture – easily missed, be it in the chest or the abdomen. This differential diagnostic challenge could be assisted with a simple phone app, as I mentioned in my little book, “Aortic Disease From The Patient’s Perspective.” 

As a large-animal (cattle mainly) veterinarian in clinical practice, I missed plenty of diagnoses, especially in my first year – it’s the only way you learn. By your mistakes! They are bound to happen. Instead of beating oneself up, you say to yourself, “Well, that’s a mistake I’ll never make again.” This is the road to becoming an excellent physician, be it for human or non-human animals.

This app worked pretty well, this time. Ascending aortic dissection was there, on the list. This could alert someone, just in time, but boy, with an aortic rupture and tamponade (blood in the pericardial sac), best of luck. A lesson well learned, in my opinion, as the chance of saving the person was close to zero. That said, we only learn from our mistakes; an anathema to this litigious society – got to blame someone, right? Separates the attending from the residents, number of mistakes made!

NOTE: Severe, training-induced dehydration is not on the list, for acute nausea and vertigo. The app failed to include my diagnosis; severe dehydration, related to intense training: Old guy, must be stroke or heart attack – wrong!

As I was writing this post, I thought, “Maybe there’s already an app, that could present the differential diagnostic list for chest pain (retro-sternal) on my phone.” I paid $9.99 for an app, and within about one minute, mastered the syntax, and was presented with a differential diagnostic list, which included ascending aortic dissection. GREAT!

App idea not so bad!

Maybe that is patient tip #1, “Please get to us, before we’re dead.” Do first responders know about this app, and use it? I asked a medical friend, who said they use MedCalX, but that didn’t do the job for me. Either way, DDx or equivalent could save some lives, especially for those people with lower back pain, sent home with pain medicine, to die of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Just a thought!

We cannot learn without making mistakes!

With all these ideas going around in my mind, I found myself interested in what happens to the people, such as myself, who survive aortic surgery.

So I prepared a simple survey, for the ‘aortic subscribers’ to my newsletter.

If you have aortic disease, you can contribute to the ‘aortic patient perspective’ survey at this link.

There have been 37 responses so far, leading to the following ideas.

Suggestions To Improve Patient Outcome

(Number Making Request/37, % Of Samples)

1. A list of things to do, to prepare, while awaiting surgery; not always an option (6, 17%).
2. Better explanation of choices of surgical approaches (7, 20%).
3. Better explanation of risks, e.g. colonic disfunction, and male risk of impotence following open surgery (8, 23%).
4. Improved physical rehabilitation (15, 43%).
5. Better education on the challenges faced on returning home (14, 40%).
6. Advice on returning to preferred physical activities (13, 37%).
7. Assistance with finding people in the same situation, to learn from them (12, 34%).
8. A list of useful websites and support groups, on leaving the hospital (16, 46%).
9. Advice on activities to be avoided, due to risk (16, 46%).
10. Advice on handling aortic disease, emotionally (15, 43%).
11. Advice on handling fear, expressed by family and friends (10, 29%).
12. Advice on lifestyle, including exercise and nutrition, for an optimal recovery (15, 43%).
13. More assistance with rehabilitation at home (11, 31%).
14. More assistance with financial, insurance, and/or job implications (6, 17%).

You can see all of the survey results, at this link.

Hope this is helpful,

FitOldDog