1 /5 Jim Henderson: I began as a patient at NCH Baker Hospital in 2023. In December 2022, my primary care physician found an irregularity in my EKG. After extensive tests over three months through the Swift Medical Team, I was admitted, and a catheterization was performed. The interventionalist found two major blocks in my LAD, one of which was 93% occluded. He put two stents in.
The same year, one day before Thanksgiving, my wife, a retired nurse, rushed me to the ER because I was having difficulty breathing. After multiple tests, I was sent home that evening. The following Monday, I called Swift Medical and complained of breathing problems. I was told to go to the ER but, since they had only sent me home four days earlier, they would do the same. I went to see my primary care doctor, Dr. Knudston, at 4 oclock and he said he was sure I was having a MI. My wife rushed me to the ER and they found that I was having an MI heart attack. The next day NCH performed another stent and found that my Right Coronary was 99% closed! If I had waited more than another day for a catheterization, I likely would have died.
In mid-December of 2023, I woke up around 2 am and fell on the bathroom floor, gasping for breath. My wife called 911 and I was rushed to the ER at NCH. Throughout the week I was given all the standard tests and, just like back before Thanksgiving, my tests were all negative for any problems with my heart. They kept me for observation for 3 days. Over that time, my complaint was that I was struggling to breathe and I had chest pain.
One evening a hospitalist stopped by my room to ask how I was doing. I told him I was struggling to breathe and had chest pains. His response was unacceptable. He told me that my problems were "in my head" and that he "did not have time to listen to my problems". He ordered a Lidocaine patch and left. The next day I asked the nurse to release me from the hospital. She got very defensive and said if I left, I would have to pay for the hospital visit myself because insurance would not cover it.
The hospital concluded that I was allergic to a medicine and they changed the medication. They moved me to a floor far away from everyone that afternoon. When the evening nurse came in I explained my frustration. In confidentiality, I was encouraged to say I felt better in the morning so that NCH would release me. I did and I was released, even though I was still very symptomatic for heart problems.
The day after Christmas, I was at my office and my symptoms got very bad. I called my concierge Doctor, who ordered me to take the next plane to Cleveland Clinic. Taking one Nitro pill after another, my wife and I made the flight to Cleveland. I checked into the ER and, the next day, they performed a catheterization and found that my LAD was 87% blocked between the two stents which had been put in at NCH less than 10 months ago.
If I had not gone to Cleveland, I might not have lived. I have been to the ER three more times since my stent was put in at Cleveland Clinic. I have gone to Physicians Regional at Pine Ridge three times. On my first trip, another stent was placed on a main artery branch of the LAD. My last two visits were in the previous month. On both trips to the ER I was sent home with no signs of heart or artery problems. A catheterization was done on my previous visit and there were no apparent problems. The attending interventionalist was rude and abrupt about doing the procedure, and I know I was not taken seriously.
I went to my primary care doctor last week and he set me up with a cardiologist for a second opinion. Knowing how poorly I was treated previously, I was very skeptical about seeing a cardiologist associated with NCH. Because he was highly recommended by someone who knows me, and I trust, I went to the appointment, yesterday.
My visit with Dr. Paz on 3/13/25 could not have been better. The visit was 1 1/2 hours long. He explained that NCH made drastic changes in the heart program in 2023, and it shows. I highly recommend Dr. Paz.
