“Taber’s Medical Dictionary. [G. aneurysma, a widening] arterial dilation<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
due to pressure of blood on weakened tissues, forming a sac containing<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
blood that is sometimes clotted”.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
A while back I was diagnosed as having an abdominal aortic aneurysm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Went to see a vascular surgeon in Miami who after studying my case<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
declined to engage admitting that to deal with such a rather large<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
aneurysm was beyond his ken, it being 5.7 centimeters in diameter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
However, he informed me that there was a surgeon up in Boca Raton<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
who was breaking new ground on the subject and gave us this doctor’s<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
name. We made an appointment and with forlorn hope went up to Boca<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Raton.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The doctor immediately informed us of the risks of such a venture including<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
death, possible paralysis from the hips down for life or amputation of<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
limbs due to complications. I already was aware of inaction on my part.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
If the aneurysm burst the result would be either a swift extremely painful<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
death or a slower inevitable death cushioned by morphine to ease the<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
pain. Considering the “Damocles Sword” I was living under I declared<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
that I was game. He immediately sent me to Boca Raton Regional<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Hospital, nearby, where I had bloodwork done and a CT scan. Upon our<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
return to him he said he would perform the surgery, however there was\u00a0 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
a caveat. There was a 20 page Agreement between myself and him and<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
the manufacturer of the stent before the undertaking could begin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
He outlined it briefly, then we were to take it home, study it thoroughly,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
formulate any questions we might have and return and sign it in front of<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
his liaison after she had gone over it in detail. We did as instructed came<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
back and met with her, and after a thorough revue of the Agreement I<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
signed it. Evidently I was entering a five year study of the stent beginning<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
with it’s implantation and it’s efficacy from that point on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The stent itself was a piece of work, unique, no other manufacture like it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Made of polyester fabric with hairlike strands of nitinol[made mostly of<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
nickel and titanium] woven into it and strands of stainless steel for strength.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
There were four stublike appendages jutting out of the lower half,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
designed to interface with arteries leading from the aorta to the vital<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
organs. By the way, I was allowed to end the agreement at any time after<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
the operation without penalty.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The doctor chose to separate the operation into two phases in order to<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
avoid the prolonged duration under anesthesia required for implantation<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
of the device in one go, as anesthesia itself has it’s own dangers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
One other thing, the device has not been given FDA approval yet but they<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
are allowing it’s implementation by certain qualified doctors in certain<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
qualified hospitals in the US.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The first phase was accomplished on June 6th and the second more<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
complicated phase, the lower half of the stent, which included a spinal<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
tap[necessarily dangerous in itself] was performed on July 3rd.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
As you can imagine, many thoughts have passed under the bridge since,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
but a rather dark one keeps eddying.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Were we conceived on this Earth, like the good Doctor and his associates,<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
indeed everyone in that hospital, to benefit mankind or are we born<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
to destroy it? That I ask that question in our time, our vaunted time, is—-<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
what?—–can you tell me?—-pray tell.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Islander.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Taber’s Medical Dictionary. [G. aneurysma, a widening] arterial dilation due to pressure of blood on weakened tissues, forming a sac containing blood that is sometimes clotted”. A while back I was diagnosed as having an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Went to see a vascular surgeon in Miami who after studying my case declined to engage admitting … Continue reading “On Aneurysms”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2724,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions\/2724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}