“How are you?”
Three simple words that you learn not to ask anyone in Green Valley unless you have a lot of free time on your hands. OK, I know you didn’t ask me, but if you did, I would answer as follows:
Remember, you’ve been warned! 
This is very, very painful to write. No, I don’t mean emotionally painful. It hurts, dammit!
I have had low back and leg pain for a long time and finally saw my PCP (Primary Care Physician for those of you not in an HMO). He ordered an MRI which I had last month. The report was to be sent to a Neurosurgeon for review. (From the looks of their website, maybe I could work out his fee in trade!)
I still haven’t heard back from their office.
I did get a call from the office of a Vascular Surgeon who said the MRI disclosed an aneurysm in the L4 area. I was told that the size was 5.3 and that anyone with an aneurysm above 5.0 was a candidate for surgery. That wasn’t something I wanted to hear. 
They needed a CT Scan to more exactly determine the size. The CT Scan showed an aneurysm which was 5.6 centimeters, and my options were:
Of course, I can elect to do nothing. The chance of the aneurysm bursting was rated at 10%; and if it did, I probably wouldn’t get to the hospital in time.
Another option is to open up your stomach, cut out the aneurysm, replace the damaged artery with a man-made one, sew you up, leave you in the hospital for over a week, then send you home for a 2 month recovery period until you begin to feel somewhat OK. Patients describe the pain after surgery similar to “getting hit by a BIG bus!” Doesn’t that sound delightful?
The third option is to essentially insert a stent.
Dr. Berens was one of the first U.S. surgeons certified to perform endoluminal stent-graft repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. He’s done 125 and likes to do them. Only downside is semi-annual checkups to make certain that there are no problems. That’s what we agreed upon. Two days in the hospital and about a week to fully recoup. We scheduled it for September 7th, but he wanted me cleared by my Cardiologist first. Dr. Berens did a Fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, so that can’t be all bad.
OK, so I had surgery exactly 1 week ago. The two small 2″ incisions in the lower abdomen turned out to be 4.5-5″ in length and super painful. No exterior stitches; they used super glue!
Sitting in any type of conventional chair, i.e. computer chair, is very painful, and if I hadn’t had a head start on this post before the surgery, I wouldn’t be able to complete it.
Oh, there’s one more thing…
I was advised that the aneurysm has nothing at all to do with causing the low back and leg pain. I have read conflicting views of this. At this time, I have some low back pain, but no more sciatic nerve involvement. But then, I have been lying in a chair all day and night.
I warned you not to go here!
September 14th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
We are very sorry to hear about your recent medicall ordeal. You are lucky that they did the MRI to find the source of your lower back pain, and thus found the abdominal aortic aneurysm. My dad’s showed up in a routine physical when the doctor palpated his abdomen. He had the surgery you described in option two, and it was indeed a long, uncomfortable recovery. That was about 10 years ago, when he was in his 70s. I now have the doctor check me for it when I have my yearly physical. As you know, people die of these without realizing they have one. Glad to hear they caught yours and fixed it in time. Hope you feel better soon!
September 15th, 2005 at 8:49 am
I am glad they caught your aneurysm! I lost my favorite doctor to just such an aneurysm. It is nice to hear you have such great docs there and that you had options and will be up and around feeling fine soon. I just stopped by your blog because my Mother and I are considering moving to Green Valley and I wanted a more personal look than the realtors give you.
September 16th, 2005 at 4:07 pm
I have read that an aneurysm of this type is caused by a deficiency in the diet of copper (the trace mineral). I guess we should all take a vitamen-mineral tablet to prevent this. Interested in whether your doctor said anything about this as a preventitive in the future?
September 13th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Cheap Custom Built Computers…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…