One Of The Deadliest Conditions: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)

My Dad had a ruptured AAA at home, in January of this year. He was aware enough to tell my Mom to call an ambulance right before he passed out from excruciating pain. He was rushed to the hospital and in surgery 2 hours later. After a very difficult and long recovery, we brought him home from the hospital last week, and he is doing great, just working to regain a lot of lost muscle. So grateful I still have my Dad. He never ever smoked, was very active and healthy, and had no idea he had an aneurysm.

Lost my mother to an AAA in 2004. Just about killed me from a broken heart. She was in surgery for many hours and they fought so hard to save her, they had just closed on her and doctor came out to talk to us, within a couple minutes a nurse rushed out and got him. I knew that very moment she was gone.... I miss her so so much, every moment of my life. The older I get, the harder it gets, I don't know why that is? Then in 2012 my husband was admitted to intensive care with one that had not ruptured. He had an amazing surgeon and team working on him, he has done very very well. He is 80 now. With other troubles of course. We take every day that we get.

Hi doctors. In 2021 I was 32 weeks pregnant and with Covid and woke up with severe back pain. Rushed to the hospital, told me I have dissection from aorta all the way to my hip. Put me under, did Csection, closed me, opend my chest, replaced my valves and fixed my ruptured aorta. 13 hours surgery, 3 days induced coma and month in hospital after. ❤

My husband was having an ultrasound of his kidneys and bladder and by chance, the person doing the ultrasound, found that he had an eight cm AAA. He had no symptoms but he had smoked for many years. When the vascular surgeon saw the ultrasound report, he said to his team,”Prep him for surgery, NOW!” He is doing fine since his surgery and we thank God everyday for that technician who found the AAA strictly by accident.

I had an aortic dissection at 43. There was no pain. Felt a burst in my chest, then instantly got light-headed and breathing became erratic. I was driving when it happened. Thankfully my oldest daughter and her friend were in the car with me, because it happened at 10 P.M. in the middle of an area of business offces and other commercial buildings where nobody was around. They drove me to the hospital from there. Her friend had literally just got her drivers license a couple weeks prior. If not for her, I wouldn't be here today.

At the time I was 67 years old. September of 2023. I felt a very sharp pain in my lower left side. I couldn't stand the pain either laying down, setting or standing. About 15 minutes after first feeling the pain I called 911. EMT's arrived about 10 minutes later. I walked out of my house; across my deck and down 4 steps. Laid down on the cart at the bottom of the steps and passed out. 4 days later I wake up in another town about 70 miles away. The EMT's took me to a hospital 15 minutes from my home but was life flighted to the other hospital. So I was later told. My aneurysm had ruptured. After 6 days I was taken to a rehab clinic and spent 4 months learning to walk, set up, everything all over. Here it is 7 months later and still in out patient rehab. I was opened up from right below my sternum to below my belt line. But I did live to tell my story. To anyone that has survived I wish you well. And those to whom lost someone my deepest condolences. Life can be cut short at any moment. Live ever day as if it is your last.......

I’m 80 years old and back In 2003 my urologist accidentally discovered my AAA. It took till June of 2010 to be large enough to place a complicated stent on it. It seems I needed a stent that looked like an upside down “Y”. The bottom of it went up towards the heart and the other two went down each leg. It was a delicate procedure that took hours to complete. There were 12 complications to consider that would kill me either on the operating table or right after. My only option was to have open surgery with a very large scar and a lot of pain. I just had my stent checked with ultrasound and everything was great as I passed my 13th anniversary of having it put in.

My dad in 2021 at age 84 had a 15cm AAA. It did not rupture. He has a stint currently that has a tiny leak that needs to be fixed. Why it didn’t burst is a mystery. We were told this was one for the record books. The hospital actually asked for his case to be published in a medical journal. I’m very thankful as of this writing to still have him.

I have been an OR RN for 35yrs. On the CardioThoracic service. These are one of the scariest and toughest cases we can get. Time is of the essence. Challenging cases. Love positive outcomes. Thank you for the great information.

My dad had the AAA that burst. The bad pain he had prior to the bursting was as bad as kidney stone pain. He had the open surgery, was put into a medical coma for about a week. The surgeon told my Mom that he had a five percent chance of surviving because the burst was in a vertical direction and was long. He survived

Need more doctors like you out there. Excellent doctors and treat use like we are all equal.

I really appreciate your channel and direct clear information. My mother had AAA discovered during an ultrasound for back pain. Very scary experience for her and us. She was rushed to the hospital for emergency open surgery and all her kids were called in. The doctor told us if it burst during surgery there was a good chance she would die. Turned out to be 11cm - The largest the doctor had seen that had not burst. We were thankful for a very skilled physician. I appreciate learning about it from you guys and I have been checked but will continue to be checked given the family history.

One year before my 93 year old mother passed, a CT Scan showed an abdominal and aortic aneurysms. We never told her. She had so many other major health issues (stage 4 kidney failure) that passing from a ruptured aneurysm seemed like a blessing.

My interventional Cardiologist did perform “Coiling medical procedure “ on me as I was diagnosed with Abdominal Aneurysm. Am very grateful and glad that it was a success ‼️The procedure was performed >a year ago and had no complaints so far. Thank GOD I reached this far as I am now an Octogenarian with Pacemaker implant a few months after my “COILING PROCEDURE “. My regimen now is walking, eating healthy ( veggies 🥕, fruits 🍎, fish 🐟, no red meat 🥩 but poultry sparingly and prescribed medications ‼️Let’s stay healthy and stay safe always 🙏😀‼️

Hey Docs, I had this and for 3 years and it didn't grow or enlarge. I had to have ultra sounds every 3 to 6 months to make sure it was not growing, and then on one ultrasound appointment I was told the AAA had started to grow. I was setup for more test and it continued to grow. A couple days later got a call from my vascular surgeon to get to the hospital immediately. I was so scared but I made it. Two days later I was in surgery having 2 stints placed. Thanks to God and two great surgeons I am still here. That was over 8 years ago. I still get it checked every 6 months along with the stint I have in my left and right thigh. Yes I had two more. I have stopped smoking, lost weight and make sure I keep my ultrasound appointment every 6 month or earlier if I feel or think that something is up. Thank you for talking about the AAA. I am still scared but I pray a lot.

I had a triple A operation in January. Everything went A-ok, never felt better. Only problem was I also have high blood pressure, and my before surgery medication was too much and gave me an attack of really low blood pressure. Went into emergency and the emergency doctor cut my blood pressure meds in half. That's how much my blood flow increased because of the triple A operation. Now my blood pressure is near normal, and here's a biggy: my diabetes 2 is now normal for my age.

Thank you for this. I have this and I’ve learnt more from you than my actual doctors. I understand so much more about my condition now and how it’s treated ❤

Thank you all for such an entertaining description of a serious topic. I have a close fried who went through several surgery's to repair a AAA where the Abdominal Aorta splits off in two directions. The follow on surgery was to repair leaks. He was able to get that all under control. A few years later he died of a heart attack. He was 70. RIP Joel.

You guys provide great information in all of your videos. Your presentation style is delightful. This one in particular was intriguing because it hit so close to home. Thank you to all three of you for a high quality, highly informative and entertaining presentation.

I’m an Australian woman, 66 years old with hypertension and heart disease, emphysema, quit smoking over 30 years ago and I have never had my doctor suggest I get screened for this. I will ask for the ultrasound just to be safe but I am really amazed that it’s not done routinely here as we are usually very strong on screening for potential health problems. I’m so happy I watch your videos and learn about these things. 😊