I've had Asthma since childhood, but had not had an attack in many years. After having some chest pain and difficulty breathing, I was sent by my doctor to the hospital for Asthmatic treatment and testing. Just when I thought I was going home, in rushed nurses and a PA saying I was being transported for testing to another hospital.
Then suddenly they switched and said, there was no time to move me. The surgeon came in and announced to me that he had to perform surgery or I was going to die because I had an Aortic Dissection. It's not easy hearing that you will die and he gave me 30 minutes to contact family, and stop crying. He seemed annoyed that I was crying over the news.
After they cut my chest open and examined my aorta, they found one that was very healthy as was my heart. So the hospital personnel preformed unnecessary surgery on me. They wired my chest and closed me back up but the pain and suffering was great and now I have pain, tenderness and discomfort in my chest daily that I never had prior to this surgery.
For those whose lives were saved by this procedure, I thank God for your continued lives as I'm sure your families do also. But for me it was a nightmare, a horrible experience that left me needlessly scared from my collar bone to my stomach.
It has changed the quality of my life, not to mention the greatly effected the style of cloths I can wear. I found out that I had time for a second opinion but after hearing "You'll die if I don't perform the surgery now" all I could think of was my son and never seeing his bright eyes and smile again.
Be careful! If you have chest pains, shortness of breath, etc, don't put off getting it checked. But don't let anyone set a knife to you if you can get a second opinion.