anyone here know about aortic dissection??? (gall bladder, pain, kidney, blood pressure)

[loves2read]

Have friend who is in hospital in Houston -- went in with pain that was diagnosed eventually as tear in aorta line--down his back--not just heart valve...
was undertreatment for high blood pressure to contain it--no surgery as cure initially--
then discovered he had gall stones--
very sick from that--

so today they were going to do gall bladder today--
then his daughter posted on Facebook that they were replacing the vein/artery--whatever--and maybe taking out a kidney and the gall bladder...

then posted when he was out of surgery that they left the incision open--will go back tomorrow and see if he has gotten back intestinal function and maybe take out kidney then...

so it sounds like his intestines/kidney started to shut down because of the stress of the gall stones and maybe the aortic dissection was getting worse...

we don't call because they have been in intensive care with him--his daughter posts on Facebook if there are serious implications

this sounds really bad--
he is 65--has had heart problems before--

can't find anything on Google about this type of surgery--most of it is valve replacement--

any sites with info appreciated...

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Aortic dissection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not sure about the surgery but this is frequently a fatal condition.

[grannynancy]

My dad had an aortic aneurysm - which never "went" but was monitored regularly and they can either dissect [very painful and can be slow] or just "blow" where it is over quickly. It is not at all uncommon in elderly men who smoked and have bad arteries.

They can repair a dissection but it sounds like your friend's father is in overall really bad health considering his young age [my dad was in his late 70s when they found and started tracking the aneurysm - but the lung cancer is eventually what took him]

I hope things all work out. The fact they are doing the other surgeries says to me they have hope else they would put him on hospice.

[loves2read]

thanks for the link
I think--although can't say since they have not given out any specifics--that this started out as two factors--
he did have high blood pressure and had prior heart problems--maybe even a bypass or something years ago--
but he probably went in with acute presentation for pain (thought it was muscle tear because it was in his back -- high)
discovered the aortic dissection--tried to just treat it with medication (which the WIKI says is not necessarily the best way to confront the severity)
then discovered he had the gall stones as more an after-look when he continued to have pain and be nauseous...

of course the gall stones don't develop overnight--so they were probably there and might have contributed to the high blood pressure situation which lead to the dissection...

now it seems like his kidney is in jeopardy because of blood flow to the renal vein--maybe having the replacement means that will be compromised in future anyway--

it is just that anyone who is in hospital for two weeks and has really had no food/nuitrition in that time is just not in good shape for mass surgery like this one...
I worry more about his general strength to sustain all his systems--you can't live on a saline/glucose drip for two weeks...
and doctors never seem to take that into consideration
fact is (IMO) -- this is supposed to be a good cardiac unit at Hermann--but in hindsight

he probably should have had replacement surgery as soon as they assessed the situation and had his vital signs fairly stabilized...even if that seems the more radical decision initially--what you are hoping to do is contain any future damage and prevent the body from becoming too weak to sustain itself...

it is just really hard to believe that he can come back from such debilitating situation when you consider they still need to go back and remove a kidney--that in itself is major surgery...