(Courtesy of St. Mary’s Hospital) Today we have an interview with a patient at St. Mary’s General Hospital who came in for one procedure and ended up with something far more serious. And she wants to alert females to be very cautious and pro-active with their healthcare. George Matyjewicz conducted the interview.
George: Good morning. I understand that you had quite an ordeal this week. Can you tell us what happened?
Patient: First, I had hip replacement surgery in August, and… the pretesting showed that I had lupus anticoagulants (a type of antibody produced by your body’s immune system that attack healthy cells and cell proteins) and I was susceptible to blood clots. The surgery was successful and I recovered nicely. Two weeks ago, I saw my general practitioner and said that I felt a strange sensation in my chest some nights before I went to bed. So, she ordered a CT scan looking for a blood clot. The report showed no clot but showed a blockage of the arteries to the heart.
George: Did she suspect a heart problem?
Patient: I don’t think so, as she didn’t find the clots that she was looking for when she sent me. I had read the report and questioned the calcium blockage in my heart arteries. A few days later I saw the hematologist and asked her to look at the report and asked if I should be seeing a cardiologist and she said yes and sent me to see Dr. Seth Jawetz.
George: Wow! So, is that when you were admitted to St. Mary’s for surgery?
Patient: No. While Dr. Jawetz didn’t think there was any major issue, nonetheless he did send me for a CT scan with contrast. I knew there was something wrong as the technician doing the scan was very concerned. The next day, Dr. Jawetz called and said that my calcium score should be 32 and mine was 973.
George: Good thing you read the report and followed up. What happened then?
Patient: Dr. Jawetz said that I needed to have a cardiac catheterization, which he scheduled with Dr. Neil Goyal to be done in the cath lab in St. Mary’s.
George: Did Dr. Goyal tell you what was going to happen?
Patient: Yes, Dr. Goyal said that he will be performing minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose the cardiovascular issue. He explained to me and my husband that he will be inserting through my groin tiny, flexible tubes, called catheters, which will access the heart and blood vessels to see if there are any blockages. If there are, a stent may be required, which is a tiny tube that is inserted into a blocked passageway to keep it open. The stent restores the flow of blood or other fluids, depending on where it’s placed. Now that I understood what was being done, I felt calmer, and Dr. Goyal performed the procedure.
George: Then what happened? Was it successful?
Patient: Dr. Goyal appeared to be shocked to see two arteries had serious calcium blockage that he could not penetrate. He said I would need a double-bypass open heart surgery. Needless to say, that caught us by surprise and was quite alarming. Dr. Goyal said it should be done as soon as possible, but could wait for a month or two, but it is dangerous to wait.
George: So, you scheduled the surgery right then?
Patient: No, I was actually considering waiting until year-end processing was over at work. We spoke with the director of the cardiovascular lab and asked her about surgeons, and she told us about Dr. Vinay (Avi) Tak who she said was wonderful, with excellent bedside manners who could explain things very clearly without scaring the patient. And his background here and in Scotland was quite impressive (my son did background checks and verified his qualifications). She said Dr. Tak was on his way to the hospital, so we waited to meet him and discuss the procedure.
George: That must have been nerve wracking. What happened then?
Patient: Dr. Tak came in, spoke with the director and read my chart. He then came and talked with us and asked questions and explained the procedure. He then said: “The procedure should be done as soon as possible, so I am scheduling you for tomorrow.” Now that shocked us, and after feeble attempts at why I should wait, we decided to go ahead.
At this point, the patient was prepped and the next day underwent double-bypass open heart surgery. Dr. Tak spoke to the patient’s husband and sons and said it was successful and her heart is strong.
She then went into cardiac ICU where they monitored her very closely and she got stronger every day. She did spend Shabbos in St. Mary’s and all of her needs were accommodated by family, staff and Bikur Cholim, which works with St. Mary’s. She even had guests over Shabbos for whom the staff was on the lookout to help them not break Shabbos.
George: So, this was quite an ordeal. Any words of advice to our readers?
Patient: Yes. B”H I am grateful that I am here today. Had I not pursued this, I could have had a fatal heart attack! I suggest that women in particular take an active role in your health care. If you see something in your tests or records that seems a bit wrong, question it—demand more testing or get another opinion. And, I cannot say enough about the excellent care I received at St. Mary’s. The staff was wonderful and took care of my every need and closely monitored me. While I thought it was strange to give me Sir-Koff-A-Lot, I soon understood his importance when I coughed.
George: By the way, this patient is my wonderful wife Phyllis—Perel bas Devorah, who gave us quite a scare. We thank Hashem for watching over us and we thank the physicians and staff at St. Mary’s for the excellent care.
And St. Mary’s will be having a shiur soon, with a panel of four doctors discussing: “Who is at risk for coronary artery disease? Proper screening and recognizing the symptoms of CAD.”
For more information, contact George Matyjewicz at [email protected].
