yay me!

[pilvikki]

punkin came back from visiting a friend, still grieving her sister's sudden and completely unexpected death. she'd told punkin that her doctor had called her up for a wee chat and after hearing that the COD had been a blown aorta, he then suggested she'd go for some tests herself. well, busy woman, she kept putting it off until last week.

...then found out that hers had widened to 6 cm, and they prefer to operate at 5. ouch. so she'll be operated asap and will have a stent put it to support the plumbing. and now she'll be alright.

but how did the doctor find out...?

yes, me and my big mouth ! I asked him if he'd heard the sad news and apparently the phrase 'dropped dead in supposedly excellent health' set some bells ringing.

[Icey]

This sounds like coarctation hun. It can be a congenital disease which sometimes people're unaware of. If your daughter's friend was having any symtoms herself - like coughing, tiredness or swelling of the ankles or legs, her doctor probably checked her blood pressure. They can tell by how the blood's pumping in the upper body as opposed to lower down, and this can signify the problem.

The woman was lucky. If she has the op, she should be alright afterwards.

[pilvikki]

no, it's the opposite - thoracic aortic aneurysm. I have it, too, brought on by my poorly managed b/p, but mine's not bad. yet.

[tomsk]

let's hope it remains so..
x

[Icey]

So it's an expansion of the blood vessel/s rather than constriction? Eeep. Sounds unpleasant. Can they rectify yours?

[pilvikki]

I just have to watch my b/p, have it checked every year... oops, I think I missed one.... better get on it...

[Icey]

Hope everything remains stable.

[pilvikki]

well, I've done nothing drastic since the last check. I don't think...? the toughest days were the bloody BUS rides to and from London.

gods, reading that made me feel old!

[Icey]

No, those were some going. I wouldnt've liked it at all.

[pilvikki]

crazy, idiotic schedule.... I mean saving the middle of the night for stop-overs and channel crossings is truly unpleasant.

[Icey]

Overnight from Wolfsberg to Neustadt, in a dilapidated minibus. Believe me, never again. I thought the Austria to Munch one was bad, but that took the biscuit.

Plane travel's definitely preferable!

[pilvikki]

unless you're punkin who didn't mind the bus to London, but cried on the plane all the way from Toulouse to London...

poor bunny.

[Icey]

Oh bless her! Was it a one-off, or has she got a real phobia about flying? They run courses for folk who're terrified, and for regular travellers-to-be I imagine it's a good thing. It finishes up with everyone being taken up for a short trip round, and when I saw a documentary about it, every single one of the passengers said they felt better afterwards.

[pilvikki]

she's considering it. when we did a few trips close together, she started to relax, but now it's been a year so she's all wound up again. and it's a long flight to canuck land.

[Icey]

It certainly is. I hope she tried to sleep for much of it.