A Determined Wife and ‘The Right Place’ Prove Lifesaving for Cardiac Survivor

UH St. John eucharistic minister experiences cardiac symptoms while volunteering and gets cutting-edge care in the hospital he calls home – now with a brand new $2 million cardiac catheterization lab

Dan Rosing’s wife gave him a 50th birthday present that was nothing less than life-changing: a full cardiac workup.

The cardiac nurse knew what she was doing, given her husband’s extensive family cardiac history. His parents and grandparents had all died of cardiac events before they turned 65. Dan’s mother was in her mid-50s when she died, and his father passed away two months after signing his retirement papers. Intent on a full retirement with her husband, Carol Rosing was determined to keep her husband as healthy as possible.

That cardiac workup and his subsequent long-term relationship with his cardiologist were two of the best things to happen to this couple of 59 years.

“I worried I’d be a young widow,” said Carol. “I’m so glad we have UH St. John here in our community, because that’s where we were when he had his recent heart attack.”

Carol was equally astute more recently when her husband repeatedly asked for antacids to ease indigestion. The couple were at UH St. John Medical Center, picking up the eucharist for their volunteer shift administering holy communion to hospitalized patients.

Dan, now 81, looked pale, rubbing the center of his chest. He did not yet realize that his 19-year-old cardiac stents had become blocked, and he needed a third one.

“The look on his face, I’ll never forget it,” Carol recalled. “He looked shocked. ‘You’re going to the ER,’ I told him. To think if I wasn’t there, he might have taken more Tums and ignored it.”

The EKG did not show any abnormalities concerning for STEMI, a type of myocardial infarction (heart attack) from a blocked artery that must be immediately resolved. But troponin levels, which indicate proteins released when the heart muscle sustains damage, can tell a different story. While typically insignificant in a healthy heart, troponin levels were very high for Dan, up to 7,500. Dan was suffering a non-STEMI cardiac event. He was kept stable on a cardiac stepdown unit and taken to the cardiac catheterization lab Monday morning.

“We know if the artery is completely blocked, we need to get that person to the cath lab emergently, and if there are no ST elevations, we can schedule an urgent cath imminently,” said John Coletta, MD, the longtime UH St. John interventional cardiologist who performed Dan’s cardiac cath. “Either way, it must be dealt with before the patient leaves the hospital. Most importantly, if patients are unstable, we have a 24-hour cath lab where we can take care of you any hour of the day or night.”

Dr. Coletta was able to clear the two occluded cardiac stents with a radial approach, inserting the catheter through Dan’s wrist rather than the groin, yielding a faster recovery with fewer complications.

Dan’s blockage was complex, with occlusion extending beyond the original stents. With optimal coherence tomography (OCT), the interventional cardiologist obtained intravascular images and utilized intravascular lithotripsy or shock waves to open the artery with a drug-coated balloon. The artery was then treated with drug-coated stents.

“It’s as if the balloon is spraypainted with this drug coating,” explained Dr. Coletta. “When the balloon is inflated inside of the artery and then deflated, the drug coating is left on the inside of the artery to help with the healing.”

UH St. John’s cath lab just completed a $2 million renovation, including upgraded technology in a brand-new room that will allow the team to do cardiac and peripheral vascular procedures.

“We have cutting-edge technology being delivered every day to the people of this community,” Dr. Coletta said. “In cardiology we always want the latest and greatest, and UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute is committed to delivering for our patients. Dan’s story shows how well we integrate all this technology and deliver it to our patients in an ever-changing landscape.”

Dr. Coletta said Carol was wise to push for answers when her husband did not look well. Dan was fortunate to already be at the hospital, and not spreading mulch, as he had been earlier that week, or driving to the other side of town, as he planned to later that day.

Shaun Harper, MD, Dan’s general cardiologist, referred Dan to Cardiac Rehabilitation during his follow-up visit after the cardiac catheterization. At the large UH facility on Detroit Road in Westlake, Dan was surrounded by many familiar faces from Carol’s 20 years as a cardiac rehab nurse.

A regular at the Westlake Recreation Center, where he and his wife exercise at least three times each week, Dan felt comfortable participating in the supervised exercise program that lasts 12 weeks. He often uses the exercise bike and treadmill during his exercise sessions.

“All the nurses are very caring here, and we have one of the best cardiac rehab programs in the city,” Carol said. “They do a great job.”

“We were in the right place at the right time with the right doctors. Everything went well.”

Not to mention Dan’s team of cardiologists, who have gotten him more than 15 years past a birthday none of his parents or grandparents enjoyed.