JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As February closes out American Heart Month, patients and doctors gathered at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside for a heart patient reunion aimed at celebrating lives saved and treatments that restored them.
At 79 years old, Kathleen vonKoschenbahr hugged the interventional cardiologist she credits with saving her life after a complex, high-risk diagnosis two years ago.
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She said a second opinion and a less-invasive procedure offered an alternative to the open-heart surgery doctors first recommended.
“It is a God thing. A man of God and does not take the credit at all. God and he are working together,” vonKoschenbahr said. “I am so thankful that I listened to that little voice inside that said I’ll go get this other opinion”
VonKoschenbahr said she learned she had extensive blockages and unusually high calcium buildup in her arteries. She called herself a high-risk candidate for open-heart surgery because of age and diabetes, and said she feared she might not survive a traditional operation.
“When I got to a cardiologist only because a wound would not heal up. I am a diabetic. I found out that my numbers for a calcium deposits were 1000 times more than two years before,” she explained. “I was preparing to die to be really honest.”
Dr. Samer Garas, an interventional cardiologist at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside, performed a less-invasive approach that combined mechanical support and vessel preparation to make stenting possible for vonKoschenbahr.
“This is called an impala Heart Pump. It is the world smallest Heart Pump. This was used during Kathleen‘s heart procedure,” Garas said. It helps the Heart Pump in that way that if we are doing a higher risk, stenting procedure, the heart stays well revascularized and pumping well.”
Garas continued, “We used a balloon on her called shockwave, which is an ultrasound therapy for the blood vessels, similar to what we would use for a kidney stones for example. We soft up the arteries. That’s why we can nicely put in a stent”
Two years after the procedure, vonKoschenbahr said she feels healthier and gets positive reports at checkups.
“I feel healthy and every time I go to the doctor, they go you are in great shape. You are doing great. it is a miracle.”
Dr. Garas said moments like the reunion make the work meaningful.
“Not all patients are so kind and nice as Kathleen. It is a pleasure. It is what we do this for.”
VonKoschenbahr, a mother, grandmother and soon-to-be great-grandmother, hugged members of the medical team and thanked them for extending her life.
“I honor what Dr. Garis does and what the Lord does through him”