11 days ago, I was sitting on a dock in Ontario and had chest pain. Boat ride, plane ride to International Falls, ambulance to local hospital, then helicopter to St Mary’s in Duluth where a team was waiting at 7pm due to an aortic dissection. I have family history on my mom's side, so had been checked out and I ‘had’ a 4.6cm aneurysm in my ascending aorta(fixed now…).  My cardiologist will start considering open heart at 5.0 cm. The team in Duluth says they do them regularly at 4.8. The point of my story is - don’t get caught somewhere you don’t want to be when this happens. I was exceptionally lucky in how mine tore and I had time, it did not have to be that way. 48 years old, exercise every day, eat well. It can happen to anyone.