In August of 1998, at the age of 57, I suffered what turned out to be an aortic dissection.
While seated before my computer in the early evening, all of a sudden, I experienced significant chest pain, accompanied by increasing numbness in my legs. I am a humanities teacher and - in retrospect - I'm amused that my first thought was of Socrates and his conversation with the jailor before he drank the poison, hemlock. He was told that he would experience coldness in his legs and when the cold reached his heart, he would die.
However immodest or unscientific my judgment, I did accurately perceive that I was in trouble.
A call to 911; rapid response by the fire department who transported me to a major university teaching hospital; crucial diagnostic acumen by the attending emergency room physician; and a three hour operation in the wee hours saved my life.
Apparently, prior to the operation, I was told of the various negative results that could - and likely, would - follow my operation, in the event - hardly a sure thing! - that they were able to save my life. These included loss of the use of my legs; being placed on dialysis; and suffering a major stroke.
I say that "apparently" I was apprised of these possibilities, because the effort to do so was related to me later by friends and family that were present. At the time, I was in great pain and paid little attention to anything other than the continuation of morphine.
In any case, I survived the operation and subsequently suffered only relatively minor versions of the debilities that had been indicated as possible: one kidney became inoperative, but the other has quite adequately taken over all necessary functions; I experienced "foot drop" - reduced ability to move my toes - in one of my feet, but this hasn't affected my mobility; and while, after the operation, my short term memory has deteriorated somewhat and I experience a good deal more fatigue than previously, my guess is that these conditions are at least partly due to the fairly large amount of medication that I take now to control hypertension.
While I appreciate the opportunity that this site provides to share my "war story" and to read that of others, I also would like to utilize it to make an inquiry.
Quite recently, I suffered a "retinal artery occlusion," a.k.a. an "eye stroke," of unknown origin, that has affected my vision; and my doctors are concerned about the possibility of that event - or a similar, but even more debilitating one - recurring. (I did experience a second eye stroke shortly after the first, but as it happened in the same place, it isn't clear whether it was a different event or part of the original one.)
The question for my doctors is: what sort of stroke-prevention treatment would be best for me? Blood-thinners? Anti-coagulants? Something else?
Apparently, there isn't any good data on how different anti-stroke treatments affect aortic-dissection survivors, so they are inclined to use the treatment that is typically effective in preventing stroke in the general population, i.e. coumadin.
I was on coumadin for a short time after my surgery, but, for various reasons, I'm not crazy about the idea of being tied to it for the rest of my life. However, of course, I'm even less attracted to the idea of suffering a serious stroke.
So, here's my inquiry.
I'd very much like to hear from anyone who has any experience with stroke and aortic dissection. Also, I'd like to hear from people who have been on coumadin, long term, who would be willing to share their experience with it - positive or negative.
Thanks.
And whether you respond to this post or not: VERY BEST WISHES!!!