Close to home, close to the heart.
While working with her grandson around her Peotone home on a beautiful Saturday last November, Jean Caputo felt an ache in her chest.
“I was in pain and having a hard time breathing,” says Caputo, now 74. Caputo passed out. She woke up on her side, surrounded by first
“When I opened my eyes, a gentleman said, ‘You’re going to be alright. The ambulance is coming,’” Caputo recalls.
An ambulance rushed her to Riverside Healthcare’s emergency room, where a medical team went to work treating Caputo’s heart attack. She lost consciousness a second time. When she woke up, it was Tuesday, and she was in the intensive care unit beginning her recovery from triple bypass surgery.
The right treatment
During a heart attack, blood flow to the heart becomes blocked, which can result in damage to the heart muscle (and lead to death) unless you receive prompt treatment.
After arriving at Riverside, Jean underwent coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery to restore her heart’s blood supply. During CABG, surgeons take healthy blood vessel grafts from the chest or leg and attach them below and above the narrowed coronary arteries. This
Cardiothoracic surgeon Michael Frank, MD, performed the procedure. He explains why it can be a better option than angioplasty and stenting for the right patients.
“Patients with complex coronary disease in crucial locations tend to do better long-term with bypass surgery compared to stents,” he says. “It can be safer and have better long-term results.”
Caputo began her rehabilitation while still in the hospital at Riverside. She praised the hospital staff for their exceptional care throughout her inpatient stay. “I couldn’t have handpicked [a better team] to take care of me,” Caputo says.
The journey back
Caputo’s Riverside cardiologist recommended that she continue with outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (rehab) as part of her recovery. Cardiac rehab combines medically supervised exercise with heart-healthy education to help people recover after major heart events or surgeries.
Caputo attended rehab three times a week, using treadmills and other exercise equipment. Gradually, she noticed her strength and stamina come back. “Slowly but surely, you realize you can do it,” Caputo says. “You can get back.”
Amy Hornbuckle, BSN, RN, is the clinical nurse manager at Riverside Heart and Vascular Institute. She notes that, in addition to helping people get stronger, the cardiac rehab team provides risk-factor education and coaching to help people develop the tools they need to manage their heart disease.
“A lot of our patients have risk factors, such as high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels,” she says. “Maybe they don’t eat heart-healthy and don’t know where to start. So a lot of our education focuses around nutrition.” Something else is gained in cardiac rehab—a sense of camaraderie among the participants. “Sometimes it sounds like coffee hour in here, with the patients chatting while they’re on the exercise equipment and discussing their lives and finding connections,” Hornbuckle says.
Gardening again
Caputo continues to get stronger and to take good care of her heart. She works out regularly with other seniors and applies the nutrition tips she learned in rehab in her kitchen. Last spring, she rototilled and planted her organic garden with tomatoes, peppers, artichoke, melons and more.
Caputo is grateful for the care she received from her heart surgeon at Riverside. “The care you get there is excellent,” she says. “They took care of me.”
Learn more about heart care at Riverside here.