I was born in 1932, in Windsor Ontario, Canada, and I presently live near Windsor in a town called Belle River. From my back yard canal I`m able to exit into Lake St. Clair and from there go boating into the great lakes. I have a BS in electrical engineering and retired from a middle management position at Ford-Dearborn in 1992 after 30 years. I was in the International Engineering part of the co. and therefore travelled a great deal e.g. Europe, the far east and Latin America. I commuted between Windsor and Dearborn Mich. except for a period of 8 years when I lived in Dearborn. We have 6 great married children and a bunch of grand children. Hobbies include boating, model building (mostly boats), carpentry and dabbling with investments on the internet. I have 2 brothers, one is an Urologist in North Carolina and my twin who is a retired chemist living in Las Vegas.
My name is Bill Glenn and I`m 66 years old and a retired electrical engineer. I live near Windsor Ontario Canada.
In April of 1998 I had a routine ultrasound of my prostate and surrounding area. It was discovered that I had a 4.6 cm AAA. By Janurary 15, 1999, the aneurysm had grown to 5.4cm. I was then scheduled for an operation on March 3, 1999. A week prior to the operation it was cancelled due to other emergency cases. I was told a new date for the operation would be determined at the end of March.
I was very unhappy because of the rate of growth and the risk factors of having a large aneurysm. Also, would there be other delays due to other unknown emergencies?
I expressed my concerns to the Doctor in addition to my being very uptight over the delay. I requested to be sent to London, Ontario, if it could not be done in a timely fashion in Windsor. The operation was then rescheduled for March 24,1999, at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Windsor.
Several more tests were run and I also donated 2 units of my blood for the operation.
The operation was done on Wednesday, March 24 and lasted 3 hours. I received one unit of my blood. I was released from the hospital on Monday, March 29.
I have been very careful not to aggrevate my surgery and have initially slept a lot. Today, April 15,1999, I feel much better and have started to do my 2 mile daily walk. I`m not taking any special medicine other than blood pressure pills that I took prior to my operation.
In summary, the operation went great, the Doctor was excellent and the nursing staff outstanding, especially those in ICU. I feel great and I`m looking forward to a summer of boating etc.
Update 29 Jun 1999
A short time after I had my operation I contacted my twin brother and advised him that he had a high probability of developing an aneurysm per my doctor. He subsequently had an ultrasound and sure enough he had the start of an aneurysm.....3 cm. He is now taking norvasc for blood pressure control. I also advised him of the drug that Bill Maples told us about recently that may arrest the growth of an aneurysm