Trying to Explain: What IS it?

I tried to call or email as many people as I could, but it became overwhelming to tell the story over and over.

Sometime late Monday or early Tuesday, Shiro-san called, wanting more information. I tried, but my bad Japanese wasn't up to explaining medical terminology, and I had been awake since quite early Sunday morning. Fortunately, I remembered Terumi's classmate, Tsuchiya-san, who is both a doctor and speaks wonderful English. Shiro-san was able to get phone numbers for him, and Dr. Tsuchiya and I were able to talk well enough so that he could explain on my behalf to Shiro-san and the rest of the family exactly what happened.

It wasn't enough information, though, and I promised to get numbers when I went to the hospital next. Everybody who called, even at 3 am, told me to "get some sleep".

What is it??
This article is from the hospital's website and explains Terumi's condition and kind of surgery very well. http://www.northshorelij.com/body.cfm?ID=3903

"The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body. Originating from the heart, it is the major artery that delivers blood throughout the body through various branches. In some patients, the wall of this artery may become weak and the artery will get bigger like a balloon. This is what is called an aneurysm. The most common place for this to occur is in the abdomen between the kidney vessels and where the aorta divides into two at the pelvis to give the blood supply to the legs.Unfortunately, there are little or no symptoms from abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), even when they get quite large. They are most often found incidentally on a physical exam or on a test like an ultrasound, MRI or a CAT scan done for another reason. The danger of an AAA is that it may rupture or burst. This event will most often result in death (80-90%). AAA is the 13th leading cause of death in the Unites States. Some famous people have died of this, like Joe DiMaggio, Lucille Ball and Albert Einstein. The risk of rupture increases with increasing size. Once an AAA gets bigger than 5 centimeters in size, the risk of rupture starts rising rapidly. Above 7 centimeters, the risk of rupture is very high (Terumi's was 8cm).

Surgery is performed on AAA to fix it before it ruptures. On the whole, the chances of making through a surgery to fix an AAA that is not ruptured are 93-95%. An AAA is completely cured by surgery. The standard open repair of aortic aneurysm has long been demonstrated to be consistent and durable. Once the aneurysm is repaired, the concern for rupture is alleviated and no routine x-ray follow up is required. The standard operation for aortic aneurysm surgery involves a large incision(about 12-14 inches long) from the bottom of the breastbone to the bottom of the abdomen. At L.I.J., techniques which are less invasive, have been developed. Laparoscopically-assisted aortic aneurysm repairs were first reported by our institution in 1997. Since then we have also developed the minimal incision technique." (End of Article)