Paul’s aneurysm was caught by chance—just in time to save his life.

Paul never imagined that a routine scan would lead to multiple life-saving surgeries. But thanks to a vigilant care team that caught something unexpected, he’s still here to tell the story.

At 65, Paul is the kind of person who doesn’t sit still for long. Most mornings, you’ll find him barefoot in his garden, adjusting a hose to keep his flowers just right. He built the space over the years — potted geraniums, wind chimes, a tiered birdbath, and a tidy patch of gravel he takes pride in. It’s quiet out there. Peaceful. And a stark contrast to what unfolded just a few years earlier.

“I’d gone in for gallbladder pain,” Paul says. “Just stomach issues, nothing major. They ran a scan to figure it out — and found something a whole lot worse.”

A Discovery No One Was Looking For

The scan revealed an aortic aneurysm with a dissection — a potentially deadly combination. Paul didn’t know what either meant at the time.

“They explained the aorta like a big garden hose coming off your heart,” he recalls. “Mine had a tear in it, and blood was slipping through the inner layers — that’s what they called a dissection. It was serious.”

Though the aneurysm wasn’t quite large enough to operate on immediately, the dissection posed real danger. His care team admitted him and began close monitoring. Cardiovascular surgeons laid out a careful plan: track the growth and act quickly if things changed.

“I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary,” Paul says. “No chest pain. Nothing that would have told me something in my heart was tearing apart. But they caught it — and I thank God my doctor didn’t miss it.”

Escalation That Saved a Life

For a while, everything seemed stable. Paul remained in the hospital for his gallbladder surgery, while specialists kept a close eye on his aorta. Then, days later, everything changed.

“I had this pain shoot through my chest and into my back,” he says. “It was like something ripping from the inside.”

The dissection had worsened. Within minutes, Paul was flown by helicopter to a trauma center. Doctors began prepping him for emergency surgery as soon as he arrived.

“They were shaving my chest in the helicopter,” Paul says. “By the time we landed, they were wheeling me straight into the OR.”

The surgery lasted fourteen hours. Surgeons repaired the upper part of his aorta — the arch — and stabilized the dissection and aneurysm before they could rupture. Paul remained on breathing machines for days afterward and spent over a month in recovery.

“They told me I might never walk again,” he recalls. “But I kept pushing. First with a walker, then physical therapy. I just wanted to get back to living.”

When Watchful Waiting Works

Even after the surgery, Paul’s journey wasn’t over. His team maintained a rigorous follow-up schedule: CT scans, MRIs, and echocardiograms every few months to monitor the rest of his aorta.

That vigilance paid off. Not long after his first surgery, one of those routine scans revealed a new threat — a type B dissection in the lower part of his aorta. It wasn’t as immediately dangerous as the first, but over time, it grew more concerning.

“They had to weigh the risk of another major surgery,” Paul says. “You don’t just cut someone open unless you absolutely have to. But they kept watching it. And eventually, the time came.”

Paul underwent another open-chest operation — this time extending from his breastbone down through his abdomen and around to his back. Surgeons reinforced the lower aorta and removed his spleen in the process.

“It was brutal,” he says. “But it had to be done. And again — it was one of those things they only caught because they were tracking me so closely.”

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A New Perspective on Care

These days, Paul still goes in for scans every three months. He trusts his care team — the same specialists who first spotted his condition and stayed with him through every escalation, surgery, and recovery.

“I don’t hop around hospitals anymore,” he says. “I stick with my team — the ones who know me, who caught this when no one was looking for it.”

He’s still dealing with some pain and the long tail of recovery. But he’s back in his garden, back on his porch swing, back to the life he loves.

“What saved me wasn’t just that the scan showed something,” Paul says. “It’s that my doctor saw it — and made sure nothing slipped through the cracks.”

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