Cathy Rogers fondly\u00a0remembers back to\u00a0her days\u00a0participating\u00a0in the annual March of Dimes Walk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to walk 16 miles in that,\u201d she said. \u201cI used to walk everywhere. And then, it seems like just one day, I started feeling very tired,\u00a0very short\u00a0of breath until, just a few years back, I\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0even walk a block.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0when all the physicians came into play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cathy, who lived in Florida for more than 30 years but moved back to the Lehigh Valley to help care for her mother in Fountain Hill, soon found out she was the one in need of care, the kind of extraordinary heart care found at St. Luke\u2019s University Network, the region\u2019s leader in heart care and one of the PINC AI Top 50 Cardiovascular Hospitals in the country.<\/p>\n
St. Luke\u2019s cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons worked as a team and utilized St. Luke\u2019s cut-last philosophy until no other option existed except open-heat surgery, and today Cathy is thriving with newfound energy.<\/p>\n
Yulia Aleksandrova, MD, Cathy\u2019s primary care physician, performed a routine examination and immediately referred her to interventional cardiologist Luis Tejada, MD, who then referred her to thoracic and cardiac surgeon J.R. Fitzpatrick, MD, to rule out a mitral valve issue.<\/p>\n
Finally, she was diagnosed with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), an enlargement and thickening of the left ventricle that restricts normal blood flow to the aorta, and referred to cardiologist Jamshid Shirani, MD, who initially placed her on a beta blocker, the first line of treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually her symptoms were not responding to medical treatment,\u201d Dr. Shirani said, \u201cand Cathy underwent a procedure called alcohol septal ablation, which is a catheter procedure where they place a catheter into the arteries of the heart that supply the thickest part of the ventricle and inject it with absolute alcohol to basically shrink that extra piece of muscle that blocks the flow of blood out of the ventricle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initial improvement from that procedure disappeared, and Cathy was placed into a treatment plan with a newly approved drug called\u00a0mavacamten, but even that did not produce the desired results.<\/p>\n
Last August, Cathy underwent open heart surgery by thoracic and cardiac surgeon Stephen\u00a0Olenchock, DO. He performed a septal myectomy, removing a small portion of the septum \u2013 the inner wall between the left and white ventricles which had thickened \u2013 to restore the flow of blood from the ventricle to the aorta.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was devastated,\u201d she said of the news that she would need to undergo open-heart surgery. \u201cYou hear open-heart\u00a0surgery, and you always get panicky, but Dr.\u00a0Olenchock\u00a0was very thorough and told me what was going to happen, and he told me he would make sure nothing bad happened to me. He alleviated my fears.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has given her a new lease on life. Cathy turned 70 last December, and still works full time as a transcriptionist \u2013 remotely \u2013 for the dermatologist she worked for back in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to cardiac rehab for a few weeks and now I\u2019m exercising at home about\u00a0150 minutes\u00a0a week, which they recommend,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cWe have a small gym in our home with a recumbent bike, a\u00a0treadmill\u00a0and a stair-climbing machine, and I switch between those and go for walks with my other half.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0lost almost 10 pounds and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0happy!\u201d<\/p>\n
Her newfound return to activity is typical for patients who are finally freed from HCM.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis condition produces so many symptoms that can be subtle, so the first thing that often happens is patients slowly reduce their activity to match their symptoms,\u201d Dr. Shirani explained. \u201cThey\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0realize how limited they are in the scope of their daily activities. After treatment works, they find new life and they can do things they thought were no longer possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cathy\u2019s energy levels have lifted her to new heights, and allow her to enjoy camping once again, one of her favorite activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. Shirani is a wonderful, wonderful doctor and he will be my cardiologist for life,\u201d she said. \u201cMy care from everyone at St. Luke\u2019s was nothing short of amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 300+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 45 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 400 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 11 times total and eight years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest cost providers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cathy Rogers fondly\u00a0remembers back to\u00a0her days\u00a0participating\u00a0in the annual March of Dimes Walk. \u201cI used to walk 16 miles in that,\u201d she said. \u201cI used to walk everywhere. And then, it … Continue reading Back from Florida, Patient Finds Extraordinary Heart Care at St. Luke\u2019s<\/span>
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n