Chapters Transcript Video Aortic Dissection Patient Story Emergency Heart Surgery and Recovery I was on my last call of the day. I felt this really sharp pain, and I fell down to the ground. The wall of his aorta was see-through. I mean, he was going to rupture that evening and he would have died. I moved to Florida when I was 7 years old, athlete my whole life, played collegiate water polo, very competitive guy. When I first heard I had an aortic dissection, as soon as they started to explain kind of the gravity of the situation. I started to have some some really tough conversations. Aortic dissection has a tear in the aortic wall that results in blood exiting from the main lumen of the aorta and into the second layer of the aorta. That blood then is contained by the third layer, which is the only strength layer left before the patient could then essentially bleed out into their own chest. They let me know I had to call my family and that I was going to have emergency open heart surgery. All I did was pray to God that, you know, I have more to give and ask for for more time. By the time I arrived to to Boca Raton Regional Hospital, they, they were ready for me. In Mr. Cruz's case, he's a young person and so we preserved his valve. We did what's called a valve sparing root replacement where he still has his own valve after the surgery. My first question, I believe, was. How is this gonna change my life moving forward? When Doctor Taylor came into the room, he said, within 8 weeks you're, you're gonna be back to doing everything you love to do. I didn't believe him at first, but his, his confidence gave me hope. I would say most of my daily activities are back to normal. He's doing all the things that he likes to do. His valve is competent. He has a good repair. My expectation is that he'll follow up with either myself or somebody else who's an aortic expert for the rest of his life. If you have a family history of someone in your family having an aneurysm or a dissection. It's important early on to seek help and get evaluated these tests are very uh easy to obtain they're noninvasive and they can provide a lot of information. I feel like I'm I'm living life on on extra time every single day I wake up and I feel blessed to be here. I feel like I have so much more to give and I I've been given a chance to do so. Created by
