There’s nothing David Wiegand loves more than hearing, “tag, you’re it!” from his granddaughter.
Running around after his grandkids is among the cherished moments in his life. So, when the 65-year-old was experiencing shortness of breath, he knew he should get checked out because of his history of heart disease.
The results of a nuclear stress test led him to the new cardiac catheterization lab at Mercy Health – Perrysburg Hospital, just down the street from his Rossford, Ohio home. What was found led David to immediate admittance at Mercy Health – St. Vincent Medical Center and triple-bypass surgery just days later.
“I was shocked,” David shares about when he learned he had four blockages in three of his arteries.
He adds, “they determined it was too hard to use stents because of the location of some of the blockages. They admitted me because I was high risk for heart attack and sent me right away to St. Vincent Medical Center.”
A cardiac catheterization lab, also known as a cath lab, is a specialized area used for minimally invasive tests and advanced cardiac procedures. During a cardiac catheterization, a catheter, or a long, thin, flexible tube, is inserted in a blood vessel and threaded to your heart, allowing specialists to perform various tests and treatments.
At Mercy Health, we proudly offer Wood County’s only cath lab in our Perrysburg Hospital location.
Mohammed Taleb, MD, performed David’s diagnostic cath. With David still on the table, Dr. Taleb immediately picked up the phone and called Daniel DiBardino, MD, chief cardiothoracic surgeon at St. Vincent Medical Center.
“We reviewed the case together as David was taken to recovery,” Dr. DiBardino recalls. “Because of the extensive blockages found and the fact there was multi-vessel disease, we agreed that David was to be urgently scheduled for open-heart surgery.”
Dr. Taleb instructed the cath lab to urgently transfer David to Mercy Health – Heart and Vascular Institute, St. Vincent. The surgery took place five days after he arrived at St. Vincent to give time for his prescribed blood thinners to leave his body.
Dr. DiBardino made sure David was safely monitored during this waiting period and, when the time was right, he placed David on the heart lung machine. David’s heart was stopped, and then his blocked vessels were bypassed using veins and arteries from elsewhere in his body.
Four days after this major heart surgery, David was home.
He was sore and found it difficult to cough, but he was pleased to be working toward a return to normal. Seeing as he is a retired commercial roofer who has done grounds work part time at a local cemetery for the past 10 years, David was looking forward to getting back outside.
“I was lucky with the blockages that I had. It could have been my time,” David says, noting he has ups and downs as he is recovering. “Now I’m looking forward to getting back. I know it will take me time but I’m excited to start playing again with my grandchildren.”
Learn more about the heart and vascular services we offer at Mercy Health.
