♪ [music]
♪ - [Joan]
We were assigned to the same homeroom, I think. Weren't we?
- [Tom]
Yes, 7201B Highland Junior High School. I remember the senior play. I became Dr. Bradley, and Joan was working with props.
- I brought one of the prop stand. I looked up to him and he said, "I know. I like you, too."
- And we had three children by the time we were 27. It was early April. Just like most people, I cut the grass. And after a couple of passes, I was totally out of breath.
So I came and sat down for a few minutes, got back up, and the same thing happened. I said, "This is totally unusual." I'm there in Louisville Cardiology. They give me the echocardiogram.
I had a valve that was almost open only to a pinhole. I was scheduled for May 1st a heart catheterization, and Dr. Christopher Semder did that. And he stood at the head of my bed afterwards.
He said, "Tom, you've got a golden heart," that's the word he used, "except your aortic valve is a disaster and it has to come out. It has to be replaced. We're going to see if you're ineligible for a TAVR surgery."
- [Linda]
TAVR is just the acronym for transcatheter aortic valve replacement. It allows the physicians to replace their native aortic valve with a tissue valve.
- And my thought was, well, yeah, we need to deal with this because I've got a wedding coming up here.
- We have nine grandchildren. We just have one boy.
- So it became critically important for me to know whether I was eligible for that procedure and, if so, that that procedure could be done as soon as possible.
- [Dr. Semder]
Tom is a gentleman who had other medical issues that made him an excellent candidate for transcatheter aortic valve replacement. He recovered very quickly and was out of the hospital within one to two days.
- With this wedding as the big goal for us, we were rallying. We were going to get him back on his feet and feeling good back to his family so he could enjoy that wedding.
- Linda was the face of it all. She has the skill to build trust quickly. She understands your needs. She's a real person that you're going to see and is going to stay with you from the very first time to the very last time.
And you're never going to be alone.
- I just appreciate so much feeling like a human being just not another widget. And this is my husband, and he is important to me.
- [Dr. Pagni]
[inaudible]
his size of incision. He has to do the experience the patient had, the management of pain after surgery, what is the relationship the patients have with the ancillary service in terms of nursing staff, coordinators, social workers, and how at the end, when the patient go home, and after a month, they think, "Well, how was my experience there?"
- The best thing that gave me confidence was that there was a team of doctors.
- We're at the forefront of new technologies and new procedures. I think that this procedure especially really allows for a dramatic improvement in symptoms but also in what these patients are able to do at home.
- They have the staff there not only to do it medically but they have the staff there to make it feel really okay. You think of yourself, you know, where you were helpless just trying to get a breath, you know, after doing a mild task of some sort and then all of a sudden you're able to be well enough to not only enjoy this special event with them but to be there in person and be engaged and holding them, sharing their moment together, that was everything. The thing I like about Baptist is, "Mission Impossible. Here we go.
Let's make it happen." ♪ [music]
♪
