Got a phone call from a friend early this morning telling me that his wife was in the hospital and that they didn't expect her to live. Quite the shock. He was asking for prayers and just wanted to talk to someone.
She had a stroke this morning following discovery of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). One reason he called me was that he knew I had an AAA a few years ago. The reason I'm posting this is to plead with everyone to get yourself checked for an AAA. This is very easily done as they have mobile units going all over the country doing "screenings" in your area. You will see ads in the paper promoting this scan along with others for you to choose from.
Four years ago I went with DW who wanted to get checked for bone density. A service called "Lifeline Screening" was in the area and she saw an ad for this service and talked me into going with her. During my screening they discovered a bulge in my aorta. Gave me a copy of the film and told me to see my doctor ASAP. To make a long story short, I had to go for further testing like CT scans as ordered by a vascular surgeon. In my case, they were able to so an endovascular stent graft. Depends a lot on the location of the aneurysm. Otherwise, full blown surgery is required and this is a tough surgery. Worse case senerio is the aneurysm ruptures and you bleed to death before you can get to the hospital. For the most part there are no symptoms. You never pay attention to this sort of thing until it happens to someone you know or you get lucky like I did. Now I know of five people who had this AAA, one died (John Ritter, the actor), another is about to die and three have had the stent graft.
Please get checked for this. As I remember, Lifeline Screening has a web site that will tell you where they are providing the service in your area (there are others as well). Also, you can Google "Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm" which will further describe the condition, the fixes and the life long checkups required.
She had a stroke this morning following discovery of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). One reason he called me was that he knew I had an AAA a few years ago. The reason I'm posting this is to plead with everyone to get yourself checked for an AAA. This is very easily done as they have mobile units going all over the country doing "screenings" in your area. You will see ads in the paper promoting this scan along with others for you to choose from.
Four years ago I went with DW who wanted to get checked for bone density. A service called "Lifeline Screening" was in the area and she saw an ad for this service and talked me into going with her. During my screening they discovered a bulge in my aorta. Gave me a copy of the film and told me to see my doctor ASAP. To make a long story short, I had to go for further testing like CT scans as ordered by a vascular surgeon. In my case, they were able to so an endovascular stent graft. Depends a lot on the location of the aneurysm. Otherwise, full blown surgery is required and this is a tough surgery. Worse case senerio is the aneurysm ruptures and you bleed to death before you can get to the hospital. For the most part there are no symptoms. You never pay attention to this sort of thing until it happens to someone you know or you get lucky like I did. Now I know of five people who had this AAA, one died (John Ritter, the actor), another is about to die and three have had the stent graft.
Please get checked for this. As I remember, Lifeline Screening has a web site that will tell you where they are providing the service in your area (there are others as well). Also, you can Google "Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm" which will further describe the condition, the fixes and the life long checkups required.