When the Emergency Is Over, But Your Mind Is Still on Alert Understanding Anxiety, Medical Trauma & PTSD After Aortic Disease When you hear the words aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, or aortic surgery, life can suddenly feel divided into two parts: before and after. Even when the immediate danger has passed, your mind may not get the message. You may be home from the hospital. Your incision may be healing. Your doctors may tell you that everything looks stable. And yet you