Racing against time: Elkhart heart team performs emergency surgery and saves patient’s life
Irv Kloska
Irv Kloska and his wife had just been seated for dinner, awaiting friends at Cappy’s in Elkhart on a Wednesday evening in late July. They made small talk as they waited for their friends to arrive before ordering.
When their friends entered and walked up to the table, Irv, 84, was suddenly struck by chest pain. Not just pain, either, but what he describes as the worst pain he’d ever felt in his life. He hadn’t done anything strenuous that day, so his immediate thought was he must be having a heart attack.
“It was like 1,000 pounds pressing on my chest,” he says. “The pain was excruciating.”
As breathing quickly became increasingly difficult, he hurried to the car where he had baby aspirins in the glove compartment. He chewed up six of them. One of their friends had come out and Irv said he needed to go to the emergency room, and luckily Elkhart General Hospital was just a few blocks away.
When they arrived, Irv said just three words: “I need help.”
Dr. Amjad Syed
Faith and prayer
A devout Catholic, Irv relayed to family members how he wanted to have their priest come to the hospital to provide the Sacrament of the Sick. The family sent out calls for prayer online and many family members started gathering in the waiting room. With 13 children, 72 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren, prayers were plentiful for Irv.
And Irv prayed.
“I had five bypasses in 2007,” he says. “Those were nothing compared to this.”
Dr. Walter Halloran and Dr. Amjad Syed, cardiothoracic surgeons with Beacon Medical Group Cardiothoracic Surgery Elkhart, and Dr. Adil Wani, interventional cardiologist with Beacon Medical Group Advanced Cardiovascular Specialists RiverPointe, together identified the problem: a degenerated artificial heart valve.
While Irv’s heart was pumping, the degenerated valve was allowing blood to flow backward into the heart instead of forward into the body. Irv’s organs demanded more oxygen, so he was intubated and taken to the ICU. They needed a solution, and fast.
Dr. Syed and Dr. Wani decided to perform an emergency transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure. First, they’d need computed tomography (CT) images of Irv’s heart to make the necessary measurements for a new heart valve.
Dr. Walter Halloran
Mary Miller, the structural heart coordinator for Elkhart General Hospital’s heart program, had planned dinner with her sister that evening. Not only had she canceled that dinner, but she had also brought her computer home. She happened to be near the phone when Dr. Syed called, and she could upload Irv’s heart scan files right away, enabling Dr. Syed to get the measurements they needed.
Meanwhile, the team also called the representative for the company that makes TAVR devices. Amazingly, he happened to be at home and was able to get a device of the right size, and he set off on the 90-minute drive to Elkhart General Hospital.
Time was running out. Irv’s body was struggling to survive. At one point, the care team allowed a dozen of Irv’s family members into the operating room to pray for him and to give them a chance to say good-bye.
Beacon’s team saves a life
But the care team was able to perform this emergency procedure in just hours, compared to a more typical TAVR implant that with testing and other preparation normally can take a month or more. It was truly a team effort to save this patient’s life.
“The doctors were exceptional. The nurses were incredible. The entire care in the ICU was exceptional, right down to housekeeping. The whole team is so important. I thank God for all of them,” Irv says.
The team also included Dr. Luisito Gonzales, an interventional cardiologist with Elkhart Cardiology, who played an integral role in Irv’s care decisions during the crisis. The path from critical illness to recovery has been both a medical journey and a profound spiritual experience for Dr. Gonzales.
Dr. Adil Wani
“Being part of the team that contributed to saving his life is a powerful reminder of hope, resilience and the difference teamwork can make,” Dr. Gonzales says.
Several of Irv’s caregivers have since told Irv he’s alive today due to divine intervention. “The first thing I did when I left the hospital was go to church and say out loud, ‘Thank you, Jesus, for saving my life,’” Irv says.
But Irv also credits the care he received from the Beacon heart team.
“Good things happen to good people,” Dr. Syed says. And the role everyone played that day ultimately resulted in saving the 84-year-old’s life.
With a functioning heart valve in place, Irv recovered quickly and today feels great. He recently had the opportunity to thank the entire Beacon team and Dr. Gonzales in person.
“Our community doesn’t understand what we have right here in little Elkhart, Indiana. It’s really exceptional,” Irv says of the heart program. “I have a whole new outlook on life.”
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Beacon Heart, Vascular and Stroke care leads the way in local cardiovascular care. Cardiologists, electrophysiologists, heart surgeons, vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, stroke specialists, heart failure and rehabilitation team – they are all here at Beacon, delivering the quality care you have come to expect from us.
