We heard today that Aunt Carma was up during the night in a lot of pain but waited about 4 hours to call her daughter Jeannine at about 6am. When examined at the hospital they found she had an apparent aortic dissection. Wikipedia explains, “Aortic dissection is a tear in the wall of the aorta that causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart. Aortic dissection is a medical emergency and can quickly lead to death, even with optimal treatment. If the dissection tears the aorta completely open (through all three layers), massive and rapid blood loss occurs. Aortic dissections resulting in rupture have an 80% mortality rate, and 50% of patients die before they even reach the hospital. If the dissection reaches 6 cm, the patient must be taken for emergency surgery.” My best friend from high school, Doug Buhler, had this same condition only a few months ago and is reported to be doing extremely well now after his open-heart surgery. It is frequently a condition shared by siblings; his sister also had this same condition a few years ago and is also doing fine after treatment.
Aunt Carma went in for open-heart surgery this afternoon and is reported to be doing well after some extensive procedures that took about 8 hours. Although her age (82) is against her she is very healthy so this is something that is advantageous for her. Please pray for her speedy recovery with the rest of us!