What To Do? Tranverse Arch Also Dilated!
1 March 2005
My name is Shelly Kutschenko. I am 20 years old and recovering from open heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm and aortic bicuspid valve. It all started on November 12, 2004. I had what was thought to be asthma attacks, two in one day. I had severe chest pain and shortness of breath. CT scan revealed, that I had a dilated aortic aneurysm. My aorta was dilated to 4.3 cm. I know that, 4.3 cm doesn't seem that big, but when you are 5ft 2in. and weigh 115lbs, its a lot.
So, on November 15, 2005 I went to my Cardiologist to have an echo. When the echo tech. said that you probably need to pursue this and get another opinion, I was scared out of my mind. I mean I'm 20 and have an aneurysm, what are you kidding?...no they weren't. That afternoon, my cardiologist called and said "not to worry, live your life and let me do the worrying."...Ok. Im an EMT and have been for 2 years now. and I know what happens to people when an aneurysm ruptures. Pretty much instant death...not a good feeling at 20.
So, I went to see another cardiologist (pediatric one), who was also with the same group as my other one. And once again he said the same dang thing. I bawled my eyes out all day long. I had it in my mind that I was just going to die and the scary part was that I didn't know when.
Well, my boyfriend who is also an EMT said we were going to get another opinion. So, he did some more research and found that Duke University Medical Center had a group of doctors who perform this type of major surgery. We printed out the information and found the doctor who we thought would be the right one for this.
So, I called the office of Dr. Robert Messier, his specialty aortic root replacement. I called the next day and made the appointment. So, on November 30, 2004 My family and I went to see Dr. Messier. He was a wonderful and awesome doctor. He was very concerned. After I had an echo, he said that "I did indeed need surgery and soon", but he sent me to another surgeon Dr. James Jaggers, a pediatric surgeon. His specialty is dealing with children and adults with congenital defects which is what I have. He ultimately said I needed surgery and as soon as possible. So, we scheduled my surgery for December 15, 2004.
It was a long road after the surgery. I had some complications. I had to have two units of blood. My hemoglobin got down to 7. I was very weak. Oh, I thought that a 20 year old's pain should be less than these older people. Boy, was I wrong...I was in the hospital for 8 days. The day after I come home I was rushed back to the ER in my home town of Mooresville, NC which is about 2 hours away from DUMC. Well, I was having severe chest pain that doubled me over, and also shortness of breath. After a CT scan it showed I had a lot of Fluid around my heart. They contacted my surgeon at DUMC and he wanted me back ASAP. I was flown to Duke By Carolinas Medical Centers heliocoptor. After that I was kept at DUMC for 3 more days and came back home on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to me!!!
A couple weeks past and everything was going well, until I noticed that everytime I tried to lay down it would take me about 5-10 minutes to catch my breath. I called my Dr. and of course I was back at DUMC two hours later. A sigh of relief, I dont have to have another surgery to relieve the pressure on my heart from the fluid. But I did have to get the fluid drained from my lungs. Not a pleasant thing. About 5 Lidocaine shots in my back and then a catheter. The doctor drained over 400 cc of fluid and finally after that I was clear.
That was until I was told I also have a dilated Transverse Arch, it is also dilated to 4.3 cm as well. So, now what do you do?. Dr. Jaggers said, that surgery is really risky due to possible paralysis. So, do I wait till it gets bigger? Should I go back to work or what? Im scared that the arch could rupture or dissect. I dont know what I should do now. Im sooo sooo scared. I'm 20 and facing another heart surgery. if anyone has any advice. please let me know what I should do.
Update: 2 March 2005
Well, I talked to my Surgeon Dr. Jaggers and he assured me that the likelihood that my arch would rupture is slim to none. I trust him since he did save my life once before. He did say that he will check it every 6 months to make sure its not getting any bigger. This is wonderful news! Hopefully not another surgery for me for a long time. Thank the Lord!
Discussion, comments, or questions: Shelly Kutschenko
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Kutschenko
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