John Ritter

[Birky]

Did you all see the young woman on Good Morning America that had the same condition as John Ritter and survived? They interviewed her family and her Drs. Did the C Section first and left the incision open then did the heart surgery. Wonderful that they can do this. Beautiful baby.

 

[Ross]

Nope, but Robthatsme and I survived too!

 

[Birky]

I really didn't know the circumstances of your medical situation, but glad that you are a survivor. I guess I really thought that once the valve started dissecting that there wasn't much that can be done. Glad that there can be.

 

[Ross]

There is something like a 3 to 5% survival rate. In other words, we were very lucky and someone upstairs was definately on our sides.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

I think it has alot to do with surgical experience when you go in with an emergency like that.

John Ritter most likley did not have the best pair of hands in the city working on him being it was an urgent matter.

 

[Ross]

I think it has alot to do with surgical experience when you go in with an emergency like that.

John Ritter most likley did not have the best pair of hands in the city working on him being it was an urgent matter.

Poor John didn't have a chance. His was massive and sudden. He came apart inside immediately. I think he was done before he hit the floor.

 

[ShezaGirlie]

Immaculate conception??

Immaculate conception??

" Nope, but Robthatsme and I survived too! "

Well, we're all waiting with baited breath! What did y'all name yours?

 

[heartyone]

Good one, Sheeza!!!

Add my wife to that small club of people that survived a dissecting aortic aneurysm. Not only did she survive, she held on for 10 days from the date of dissection until surgery while the doctors in our community hospital tried to kill her.

 

[Karlynn]

My Mom died from a dissecting aortic aneurysm, much like John Ritter. She had severe chest pain. My Dad drove her to the hospital - she was sitting up the whole time, but lost feeling in her legs. The minute they got her out of the car and put her on a stretcher she passed out and never regained consciousness. She died about an hour later. Had she been in a hospital in a large city, I'm wondering if surgery would have given her a chance. They say she lost the feeling in her legs because of the blood filling the area and pressing on her spine.

 

[mamsram]

I'm almost positive that Rob+Ross didnt have a little one, but that wasn't the dangerous part.The dangerous part was that the birth had to take effect first, a little time-delay.

When I saw that on t.v. my thoughts were, boy, is she lucky, because I remember how quick it was over for John Ritter. Its nice to get a story with a happy ending once in a while.

I wonder?????? How much time does it take for the aorta dissection to cause death? Does it simply pump most of the blood into nowhere, causing death? I read somewhere once, in the days of the glass milk-bottles, that a youg boy tripped while carrying a gal. bottle, cut an artery, and bled to death in seven seconds, because none of the bystanders knew enough to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the wound.

Is a dissection the valve breaking away from the wall of the heart? Is that as bad or worse than an aneurism?

 

[Ross]

In my case, the aneurysm started dissecting a couple of centimeters above the valve. The saw "Fluid" around my heart and decided to do a pericardial window. That's when they discovered that the pericardium was full of blood and blood clots, but get this, they still hadn't found the dissecting aneurysm. By the time the helicopter was landing at Cleveland, I coded. Once I got to see Doc McCarthy (He actually came to see me on another floor because he didn't think I'd ever make it) he told me that just about the time the helicopter set down, the aorta actually ripped to shreds just above the valve. Why am I here? Only God knows. Doctor McCarthy couldn't even believe it.

Once the aorta comes apart, your pretty much done. This is why I wonder what symptoms John had before hand. I know he had some and must have just dismissed them as something else. I'm afraid that's one we'll never know.

 

[Creed3]

You can add me to the list of people who survived an aortic dissection which then turned into an anuerysm. This is something that can kill in an instant. Depending on how bad the dissection is, getting a quick diagnosis and the best docs in the field are truely what one needs to survive this.
I wish I would have seen the story on Good Morning America. My dissection occured post partum.

Take Care & God Bless!
Gail

 

[fdegranville]

Ross

Ross

I think you are here for the compassion, knowledge and wit you bring to this forum, oh yeah, and not to mention your advanced I.T. skills!
Fred

 

[Ross]

advanced I.T. skills!

As of last week, I don't feel so advanced. In fact I feel pretty tiny and almost walked away from computers for awhile. This machine of mine really put me through the wringer and nearly won.

 

[fisher6476]

The comment that Ross made about being sure that John Ritter must have had some symptons but just must have written the off as something else really hits home for me. Literally for several years I knew I was not feeling "right" I had symptoms but kept writing them off to getting older, to smoking ( whic I gave up 60 days ago) to stress from work, ... I just never faced it head on. I guess because over the years I have not "needed " nor been to the doctors, I felt somewhat "immortal" like none of that bad stuff can happen to me. The BOOM !!. Find out that I am not immortal and that without having this surgery done I might not have made it to my next birthday. Just goes to show you that even someone as smart as I am can be pretty dumb when it comes to taking acre of themseves. (LOL)

 

[Rush20]

Wow! Reading some of your stories on aortic dissection really makes my AVR seem such a small procedure. After the John Ritter episode, I performed some research on the internet and discovered that people born with a BAV might be more at risk due to the wear and tear on the arota as result of the faulty valve.

Thus far, they don't have too many statistics to either support or disprove the theory.

Again, God bless you all and truly believe - You're here for a reason.

BTW - I read the Lucille Ball also died of an aortic dissection. Interesting considering that John Ritter was a big fan or hers and she was a big fan of John Ritter (She hosted an episode of Three's Company praising the slapstick humor and skills of Ritter).

 

[Granbonny]

My brother-in-law, Jim..died 13 years ago with a burst aneurysm We were the same age. he came in from work and told my sister..his legs ached..They went to grocery store...He came home and cooked..went to bed to read...Screamed out..told sister he had sharp pain in chest. they went to hospital..thought it was a bad case of indigestion...About an hour later..decided to send him over to Greenville, S.C...We all flew over..Nurse explained what was going on. Sister and hubby saw him before he was taken back for surgery. We had No idea how bad it was..just sat all night ..and was told around 5 a.m. his chances were not good. Died at 5 P.m. that day..leaving her to raise 2 teenagers alone. so sad.I think back now..I think they took a long time finding a surgeon that could operate. Bonnie

 

[KathyH]

Just curious, those of you who had a dissection, did you have high blood pressure?
KathyH.

 

[Ross]

Yes Kathy I did. Mine was up around 160/110.

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi,

No I didn't have high blood pressure. My dissection was immediate, no prior symptoms.

Still trying to figure out why I am still around.

Rob