Bucks County Herald – July 3, 2008

Catheterization

Dear Friends,

Good morning. It pays to exercise. Ten days ago, I had a heart catheterization…successfully. As the song in the Broadway show Spamalot goes, “I Ain’t Dead Yet.”

In 1981, I had quadruple by-pass surgery. I was only 46. Twenty-seven years later, the critical question remains…are my heart “pipes” still open? Dr. Richard Edie did my operation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Although I didn’t know him at the time, we’ve become close friends.

Before he sent me home, he gave me three important pieces of advice. Don’t smoke; watch your diet; and get plenty of exercise…a minimum of 45 minutes, at least four days each week. Those of you, who know me well, realize that I’ve maintained that routine to this day. Dr. Edie is a fabulous athlete. On Princeton’s baseball team, his batting average for four years was .400. He’s an excellent tennis player and his golf handicap is a stunning six.

My hospital roommate was not as lucky as I.

His surgeon wasn’t impressed with exercise and didn’t prescribe it. My roommate was dead six years later. It was so ironic…two heart by-pass patients; in the same hospital; performed on the same day; same surgical practice; but two different surgeons and two very different outcomes.

Most heart bypass surgeries don’t last as long as mine has so I credit Dr. Edie’s advice, which has kept me on this side of the grass. Yes, he did very good work, but his prescription for a long healthy life was equally important.

Seven years ago, Dr. Edie thought a heart catheterization would determine whether those bypasses were still working. Two of the three coronary arteries were open and performing well. One had closed but was not the “widow maker” and judged to not be a threat.

Alas, Dr. Edie has retired but I have an excellent cardiologist in Dr. Kelly Spratt at Penn. She’s cute as she can be which is helpful. At my annual heart check up, she ordered a thallium stress test. It’s a treadmill exercise plus a series of photos of the heart to determine whether blood flows unobstructed through the heart’s chambers. The test showed that a closer look was needed…hence another catheterization.

So, with Mighty Betsy and Kelly Spratt in tow, holding each of my hands for comfort, into the catheter lab I went...I should say I was wheeled. The procedure was exciting…although painless. There are no nerve endings in arteries and veins so I felt no discomfort as the catheter was threaded from my groin into my heart. A tiny camera is attached to the catheter so I have a CD of the glorious 90-minute movie making. I can hardly wait to share it with my friend, Dr. Edie.

I even gave a rowing sales pitch to the physician who did me. Dr. Robert Li (pronounced Lee) told me that he and his wife run by Boathouse Row each morning. I suggested that he stop torturing his hips, knees, and ankles and get the identical exercise as a sculler. We’ll see. I’m also trying to capture Dr. Spratt as one of Charlie’s Angels but she’s been elusive thus far.

The other members of the team were: Lisa Long, RN; Debbie Johnson, (DJ-CVT); Kevin Lumley, RN; Mary Sears, RN; Kim Matarzazzo, RN; and Sandy Hicks, a nurse practitioner for Dr. Spratt. It turned out that Kevin Lumley lives in Milford Township, just a few miles from our home. Isn’t it a small world?

I think about Tim Russert, the TV host of “Meet the Press” who died suddenly. Russert was overweight and not in good physical shape. My bet is that if he had had Dr. Edie’s advice and paid strict attention to it, Russert would still be with us.

The other thought I have is not scientific but may be useful. My surgeon’s lifestyle (although I didn’t know him in 1981) turned out to parallel my own. It may be useful to be in the care of physicians whose life styles are similar to their patients.

I’ll know for sure in the next world.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith