For a general summary of what I’m referring to, see this post. I didn’t enumerate all of this, but it’s pretty funny. Stats refer only to mishaps taking place since 2003.
mom: surgeries done, recovering
Mom had her second surgery in early September, shortly after labor day. She received an artificial graft of her thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysm (aka TAAA) in open surgical repair. From her aortic arch down to her illiac arterie. Here’s an illustration of something similar. Her aneurysm was over 6.2 centimeters in diameter in places, extended the full length at varying diameters, and included at least one dissection.
Her surgeon for this one had two key traits you want in your surgeons in general–cockiness and meticulousness. My informal survey of CVSU nurses agreed as to these traits being desirable. That is in addition to the kind of things you can look up on healthgrades and the like with respect to number of procedures, survival rates, and so forth.
Mom has gotten tinier over the course of all this, which brings up the question: how the hell did she have room for over two feet of enlarged artery?