McKay-Dee Hospital celebrates heart procedure milestone
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- Larry McClurg
OGDEN – Kristi Gagnier said she went from near death one day to wanting to run a marathon the next.
That’s how much better she felt after receiving a life-saving procedure at Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital last September to replace a damaged heart valve.
“I would go to work, come home and go to bed,” the Ogden resident said during a press conference on Wednesday. “My cute dad would carry my laundry up the steps for me because I couldn’t go up the steps. I was literally dying. About an hour and a half after being in recovery from the procedure, the doctor came in and asked how I was feeling and I said, ‘Let’s pack it up and go home.’ I felt great. It was like night and day.”
She was told she would have to spend the night, however, but by the next morning, Gagnier said she was packed up and ready to leave the hospital.
Gagnier had aortic stenosis which is narrowing of the aortic valve, causing restriction of blood flow. She was told it was probably caused by a heart murmur she never knew she had.
“The aortic valve is one of four heart valves that, as we age, typically starts to wear out and when it wears out, it narrows, and that makes the heart have to work really really hard with every single heartbeat to be able to open up that heart valve,” said Dr. Eric Lindley, medical director of cardiovascular medicine and heart & valve services at Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital and the Intermountain north area market. “As it narrows over time, patients start to not do so well. They get tired, they get out of breath and they stop doing a lot of things they used to enjoy.”
Lindley said many people brush off their symptoms and blame their age.
“Unfortunately it’s a lethal disease,” he said. “Getting a diagnosis of a severely narrowed aortic valve is just as serious as getting a diagnosis of stage four cancer in terms of how long they can live with it before getting treatment.”
In the past, the procedure to replace a heart valve involved open heart surgery, with a week stay in the hospital and two to three months of recovery at home, Lindley said. Many patients who were too weak or sick to undergo major open-heart surgery would end up dying.
But now surgeons are using a less invasive procedure called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, or TAVR. Patients typically stay in the hospital overnight and recover for about a week at home before resuming their normal lifestyle.
Before bringing the procedure to Ogden, patients had to travel to Salt Lake City to have it done. Having grown up in the area, Lindley said he wanted to bring that same procedure to his own community so it would be closer to home for many of the patients who so badly needed it. The procedure was brought to McKay-Dee Hospital in 2016.
On Wednesday, doctors and patients joined together to celebrate the 500th milestone, honoring those who have been instrumental in bringing TAVR closer to home.
Lindley said the procedure uses a catheter placed through a blood vessel in the leg. The old valve is crushed and the new one, which is placed on the end of the catheter, is put in its place.
“This procedure is a miracle,” said Larry McClurg, a Centerville resident and the 501st patient to have the surgery at McKay-Dee Hospital in October.
McClurg went to Intermountain Layton Hospital after experiencing a severe dizzy spell while working on a sprinkler system in his yard. The doctor told him something was wrong with his heart, but he needed further evaluation and was transported by ambulance to McKay-Dee Hospital.
“I bent over and got so dizzy I couldn’t even function,” he said. “I turned around to sit down and my daughter asked me if I was OK. I said no and that’s all I remember until I came to and saw an ambulance, fire truck and two police cars.”
McClurg was told at the scene that he didn’t suffer a heart attack, but he would need to go to the hospital. That’s when he was told he had a bad heart valve that needed to be replaced. The day after the procedure, he felt great.
“They got me in and got it over with and I went home the next day,” he said. “I’m so grateful to this team for the technology that helped save my life. If I were a teacher I would give you an A plus.”
Symptoms of aortic stenosis include fatigue, fainting, shortness of breath, chest pain and leg swelling. If you have any of these symptoms, Lindley said not to ignore them. See a doctor as soon as possible so you can improve your life and longevity.
