My husband Travis suffered a triple aortic aneurysm one half years ago. He worked the night shift and became very incapacitated one night he could not stand for the pain in his back. He had suffered this pain for many months but did little if anything about it, other than the usual generic pain meds. This night however, the pain became unbearable and lucky for him he had good people around him who responded immediately and sent him off to the hospital after calling an ambulance.
When he got to the hospital they had no idea what was wrong with him and he laid in a cubicle and suffered most of the rest of the night. In the morning he called me from the hospital, i was shocked and distressed as to what may have happened to him and decided he had probably had a heart attack.
When I arrived at the hospital however some doctors had arrived and immediately given him a cat scan only to find he had an aortic aneurysm! I must confess I did not know very much about it but they further said he had to be operated on immediately and literally started to run with him on the paddy wagon and me trying to pull up the rear which his clothes in my arms. At one point I feared he had died on the table because the doctor came out once to ask me if I had anyone to call. Told him that my daughter was on her way. I did not want to ask the reason why and was still in a state of shock and denial.
After my daughter arrived she made inquiries and was told the doctor would be out shortly to talk with us. We both started to think the worse had happened only to be told that they were now sewing him up and that it had really been touch and go.
He constantly hears of people who die from this malady and that only a tiny few survive. He is plagued by this thought and wonders why all the time, the recent death of George C. Scott brought it to the surface again. Everyone in the hospital called him "dead man walking". I think at times he thinks he is the only one who survived this and wonders why!! Is there a list anywhere of people who survived the triple A... we wonder..