I am a 42 year old male married with 2 children. I live in Wellington New Zealand and have always been very active. I have played sport all my life and am a keen jogger.
My experience started in February 1999 when due to a persistent cough I visited my GP. I wouldn't have gone except my wife was getting frustrated with being kept awake at night due to my coughing (the cough was just a part of a cold that had turned into a chest infection and was unrelated to future events) and insisted I should visit the Dr to get something for it.
During the visit my GP couldn't get the pulse in my right arm and jokingly said you're dead. At the time I suggested it was probably due to my chest infection. It was decided I would be given a course of antibiotics and revisit the Dr in two weeks to check the missing pulse.
Two weeks later with the chest complaint over (and the cough gone) I revisited the Dr and he once again couldn't get my pulse. He decided that it would be a good idea to get it checked out by a specialist and referred me to a specialist at a local private hospital. Unfortunately I couldn't get in until 9 March 1999 so I had about 3 weeks to wait. I pretty much got on with life continuing my running 3 times a week and refereeing Rugby Union. On the 9 March I visited the specialist who had no trouble getting my pulse and was wondering what all the fuss was about. He decided as an after thought I should perhaps have a CT scan and duly booked me in for one in a weeks time with another visit to him after the CT scan. I had the CT scan at approx 10am and was quite bewildered at the change in the radiologists demeanour after the completion of the scan they had gone from treating me like an adult to treating me like a child.
At 14:30 that afternoon I had another appointment with the specialist. I was sitting in the waiting room by myself when he came out holding a file and walked off down the corridor. I heard him stop and greet someone and then he said 'have you ever seen anything like this' and a voice replied 'gosh, no I haven't'. Anyway I looked to my left to console the poor person they were talking about and then remembered I was the only on in the waiting room. The specialist came back and I was duly called in. He said things weren't good and I would need to see a cardiothoracic surgeon. He had already booked the appointment and it was for next Thursday.
I went home and was feeling pretty numb I hadn't asked nearly enough questions and didn't know what was going on. After a fairly ordinary nights sleep I decided to ring my GP at home. I spoke to him and asked if he would be able to tell me what was going on. It turned out he had trained with the specialist and was able to ring him at home. My GP rang back and filled in some of the gaps they had found a medistinal mass in my chest that needed further tests. I asked if it was alright to continue exercising and he suggested I should leave it for now.
A week later my wife and I visited the cardiothoracic surgeon. I was advised that I had an aneurysm measuring approx 8cm on my aorta. The only option was to operate to correct it. I was a bit taken aback by all of this (too much information I think). The surgeon said he would organise an angiogram and then went to book one. He returned and said it would be in two weeks time as they were heavily booked. At this stage I don't think we realised the seriousness until my wife asked what was the outcome if I didn't have the operation. The surgeon replied I could walk out of his office and if it burst in the waiting room they wouldn't be able to save me. My wife then suggested it might be a good idea if I had the angiogram a bit earlier than two weeks as a result an angiogram was scheduled for the next day.
I had the angiogram at 08:00 the next morning they went up through my groin and did the necessary picture taking. Unfortunately they couldn't get to the aneurysm end so at 17:00 that evening I had my second angiogram through my arm. They still couldn't find the end of the aneurysm so it was decided they would have to have another surgeon on standby if I required above the neck surgery as well as thoracic surgery. I spent the night in hospital and was sent home to wait for the callup.
I went back to work and tried to continue as normal but it was fairly difficult to concentrate on anything. I finally got the callup some two weeks later. I was operated on, on the 17 April 1999 (Saturday) the operation took 6 hours. My wife was told that if the op had been a couple of days later I may not have been there to have it. I was in hospital for 7 days, recovered at home for two months and then returned part time to work for a month before going fulltime.
Its now over a year since it happened and I had my first visit back to my surgeon yesterday (27/7/00). Everything is going great. I am back exercising and reffing rugby again. Apart from the numbness in my chest and the pills I take daily (for heart rate) you wouldn't even know it happened.
They are writing a medical paper about my case. Its not really the way I wanted to be 'famous'.
It was a great lesson of what can be around the corner.
Its worth saying how great all the medical staff were through out the whole ordeal. I certainly admire their professionalism and dedication.