Beating the Odds, Kirk's Story

This podcast recounts the story of one man’s heart incident that proved almost fatal. We’ll hear from that man, Kirk Fessenbeck as well as the cardiologist who first saw him in the ER and the interventional cardiologist who performed his heart cath.

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At Sarah Bush Lincoln Regional Cancer Center. We believe in more than just treatment. We believe and care that goes beyond medicine, care that supports you emotionally and physically, care that uses the latest technology and the best minds in the field, and care that celebrates every victory at Sarah Bush Lincoln. Your fight is our fight. This is our promise. And these are the physicians and health care professionals at Sarah Bush Lincoln. Welcome to health styles I'm Lori Banks. In today's podcast we're recounting a story of one man's heart incident that proved almost fatal. We'll hear from that man. His name is Kirk Fessenbeck, as well as the cardiologist who first saw him in the emergency room in March of 2023. And the interventional cardiologist who performed his heart catheterization. Here's Kirk. I couldn't walk, I couldn't walk from, like, from here to a door out the room without being out of breath. Simple tasks, driving would wear me out if I had to drive someplace. It just, I had it just was preventing me from doing anything and enjoying anything because it was just a struggle just to get there. And just. And what finally brought me here was I laid down one night and it felt like I had, like, an elephant sitting on my chest. And I was just like, okay, it's time to go figure out what's going on. when I was in the E.R., they told me that my troponin level was high and the cardiologist says I'm concerned. So again, I told him at the time, I go, well, I guess I should be concerned as well. And that's when they did the heart cath, and that's when they found out that I had a 95% blockage of my left anterior or something they call called the Widowmaker. Sarah Lincoln cardiologist Michael Lamonto saw Kirk in the ER that day. He explains what happens when a patient comes in with a heart attack like symptoms. Well, the immediate thing in the emergency department is they're looking for the immediate cause of the pain. They will do a chest X-ray looking for a collapsed lung or a dissection of the aorta. They'll do an EKG to see if you're having a heart attack. Right at that moment. They will also do bloodwork to look for maybe a blood clot in the lung, maybe a Cat scan of your lungs. And then they do blood work looking for heart damage evidence of a heart attack. All that will be done in the ER. And then, you know, you listen to what the patient says, and if they're saying something's wrong and I'm having a problem and the hair stands up on the back of your neck, that's when you pursue it further. They come into the hospital. Some people get a stress test, some people get an ultrasound. Some people, we just go right to the cath lab. It all depends on the story. You know, it's very important to listen to what the patient has to say. And again, you know, I've been doing this for about 18, 20 years now, including, well 24 years including training. But you know, when the hair stands up on the back of your neck, you got to listen to that. You can't ignore that. So you did tests on Kirk. What levels were elevated in him that made you think something is going on here? Well, initially, his first blood test looked okay, but then, because we had concern about the story, we checked more blood tests. And over time, that blood test called a troponin, became positive. Now, what that means is troponin is an enzyme that lives only in heart muscle. And the only way that that enzyme will get into your bloodstream so that we could sample it is if there's some kind of damage to the heart muscle itself. So an elevation of that enzyme indicates that there might be heart damage going on. And so his was only minimally elevated. But because of his story we were very concerned. So we've heard Kirk talk about his incident with his heart, and he says it was a widowmaker. So why don't you tell us from a cardiologist point of view, what is a widowmaker? Where is it happening in our heart. Great. Well you know, the widowmaker is an old fashioned game back from the early days of cardiology. Typically it's a large artery in the heart that when it clogs off, you're in real trouble, and you have a very high chance of dying from it. So when people would have that vessel block off, your wife is then a widow. So basically you have three vessels in your heart. You have the, the vessel in the front, the vessel on the side and the vessel on the back. So the widowmaker is a proximal lesion meaning it's a blockage way up at the base of the main artery in the front. Okay. So either it's going to be a vessel called the left main or the very proximal left interior descending artery. And the reason why, if that blocks off, it kills you pretty quick, is because it is the main blood vessel that feeds your left ventricle, which is the main pump of your heart. And your heart will go into something called ventricular tachycardia, which you can think of is like, a heart spasm. And the heart doesn't beat properly, it doesn't deliver blood, and you pass out and that's it. So you really not even having a heart attack? You're just. It's the drop dead. I tell people it's the drop dead heart attack. It's the heart attack where you're mowing the lawn and you go, I don't feel so good. And then the next thing you know, boom, you fall down and that's it. So we call it a widow maker. Is it also a widowermaker? Does it happen to women, too? It absolutely does. It was called that because, of course, historically men have, coronary artery disease much earlier than women. And because this happened to men much more often, it got that name back in the 70s, 1960s and 1970s. So it's a it's an old fashioned name, but that the widowmaker means it is just a, a blockage very, very, proximal in the vessel. So it, it blocks off a lot of blood flow to a lot of your heart. So if you happen to have not quite a widowmaker like Kirk, did, you know he said I just couldn't breathe and then felt like I had an elephant on my chest. So the symptoms similar to having a heart attack? Well, the interesting thing is with with him, he had what we call Multivessel disease. He's a young man that has bad disease. And, you know, some people, you know, very commonly folks with that are heavy smokers, people that are bad diabetics that don't take care of their diabetes or they're just genetically doomed. You know, my father personally, he has eight stents in his heart. I'm doomed. I'm doing the best I can to avoid it. But one day it's going to get me, you know? And if you have a family history of my father, my brother, my grandfather, my cousin, everybody has died of a heart attack. You know, the chances are you're going to have some problems. And so he had blockages in all of his arteries. And when it accumulates slowly, basically your heart is just gasping for blood all the time. And your symptoms aren't necessarily being I'm having a heart attack, but it's more slowly progressing. Just the heart is running out of energy and you know, your body compensates as best as it can, but it takes time to do that. So that's why his was slow over time, because this didn't happen in a day. This happened over the course of years and the body compensates. It's very well up to a point. And then now we got a problem. While Kirk displayed some symptoms related to a heart attack, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, other tests were not as definitive. interventional cardiologist Dean Katsamakis explains And his EKG did not indicate the presence of what we call an acute myocardial infarction or a heart attack. So it took, some, clinical decision making by our cardiology team to determine that. Yeah, this might be a heart attack. And so although a mild heart attack, still, a heart attack or a blockage causing his symptoms. And that then prompted us to move forward with something called a coronary Instagram or heart catheterization, where we actually go inside of a person's heart and take pictures of their arteries in real time to diagnose if they do or don't have a blockage. The majority of heart catheterization or coronary Andrew Cams are performed from the radial artery approach. So we numb up your wrist, with lidocaine of like you got when you go to the dentist office to get your tooth work done. We're able to go in with a small catheter in that catheter, then leads us up the radial artery into the heart. And then from there, we're able to take all our pictures and perform balloon angioplasty and stenting, which is fixing of a blockage. All through that, that insertion site, when we're done, that tube is pulled out and some manual pressure is applied there, and that's really it. So in his particular situation, we found that he had, very severe blockage of the left anterior descending coronary artery, which is the main artery that supplies the majority of blood flow to your heart, probably 50%, if not more of the blood flow to the heart. And his was greater than 90%, I think 95% blocked. And so it was definitely causing stress and strain on the heart. It was causing these heart enzyme levels to be released because the heart was suffering from a lack of oxygenated blood flow. And that's when we put a stent in to relieve that blockage. First we put a balloon there and that balloon dilates. That's that blockage open. And then the stent is like a metal scaffolding that helps keep that artery open so that the blood flow is unimpeded. And it helps, resolve the chest pain. It helps, resolve the mild heart attack. And, obviously, in the long run, makes you feel better and improves your overall prognosis. It was on it was like night and day almost from the time, I mean, from when I got here til the maybe 16 hours later and I was laying in the bed, but I wasn't going, and just struggling to breathe all the time. I could actually breathe and it didn't feel like I was. Yeah, no pressure in my chest. And. as we said, he had been having discomfort in his chest for a period of time. He had actually had a stress test, some months before, which was reportedly normal, meaning it didn't show evidence of a blockage. And that can happen. You can have a negative stress test days, weeks, months before having a heart attack. It doesn't mean the stress test missed anything. The heart attack wasn't present at that moment, so he was having symptoms. He then represented with very similar symptoms, which were very classic for what we think is angina. That's that pressure like sensation over the left chest. And so his symptoms had been present, for a while, intermittently. Had he not listened to his body and had he not presented, perhaps he would have had a much larger heart attack. As we said, he had a mild heart attack. He suffered no appreciable damage to his heart. We got in there and saved the heart muscle. By putting that stent in. But had he waited and had a large heart attack, he may have lost heart muscle tissue, which would then result in a much different prognosis. Yeah. Kirk recovered from the procedure and then transitioned to a cardiac rehab program. at Sarah Bush Lincoln. He's been able to rebuild his strength and stamina and lose some weight in the process. Physically, he is great and doing things he wasn't able to prior to his heart. Cath. Like many people who have had a near-death experience, lingering thoughts about what if or worrying about another heart incident are common. things that you've never thought about before because you didn't know anything was wrong. And now you think about all the time. And I don't do that now. But like, right after the event and, you know, for a few months, it was like, like I said before, every time you have a twinge or every time something doesn't feel right, it was like, okay, am I do I need to go to the doctor? Do I not need to go to the doctor? You know, that was that was hard for me because I don't know that I was scared of dying, but I was afraid I wouldn't get somewhere in time if I needed help. And that was. That was heart. That was probably harder than the actual physical stuff. The physical stuff was became a challenge, but the mental thing was, you know, it was like, okay, if I have something, my how am I going to get there? Where am I going to go? And it's just things that run through your mind like that all the time. I'll tell you. I mean, this isn't about me, but in 2011, I had a motorcycle accident that was I have a lot of injuries from that, and I had to actually change my career. I was in an emergency department doctor here from 2005 to 2011, and I had to quit that job and go back to school in my 40s to become a cardiologist, because I couldn't do that job because of my injuries. That motorcycle accident could have very easily have gone badly. And as a young man, I was in my 40s. He was in his 50s still, you know, young man, you have a taste of mortality. You have a taste of, wow, that could have gone very badly and I could not be here. And yes, it hits you like a ton of bricks. It you, you and everybody knows that we are all mortal. Everyone knows that we all have an expiration date. But when it looks you right in the face and you dodged that bullet. Yeah, you definitely you definitely marks you. And so people that have undergone heart surgery or something like this. Yeah they'll have sometimes anxiety, sometimes depression. Sometimes you'll just cry out of nowhere. Sometimes it's. And then it, you know, initially you don't really know what to do with that emotion. But in the long run, what I try to tell people, because I've been through this similar, you know, a life of a close call. I try to get them through and try to get tell them and say, you know, now every day is gravy. This is a good thing. You know, every day is a gift. And live your life in the proper priorities. Family, God, country, work is down there, you know, and all the things that we raise to the top of the priority list that eats up all of our time. It all gets reset. I just like to tell people that don't put things off. If, you know, if you think something's wrong, it's better to have it checked out than it is to. Not because I almost waited too long and. Like I said, I'm stubborn and I'm like, no, there's nothing. It's just me, you know? But it wasn't. So don't be stubborn if you think there's something wrong, you're not feeling well. Take care of it, Sarah Bush will take care of you. They, They took care of me, you know, he was very fortunate. I think he presented, to the hospital at the perfect time. He listened to his body. He listened to the symptoms he was having. He didn't just, say, well, you know, I had a negative stress test, so this can't this. It's got to be something else. Sometimes, you know, your own intuition is the most important diagnosis, you know, diagnostic factor, in a person's health. So he was he he did the right thing. So is there anything like for people who are out there saying, I don't want to have a widow maker? Yeah. What what would should we be doing to make sure that we don't have that or any other kind of heart issues? Great. Great question. And actually, we have a program here called Hart to Hart. Heart to Heart is a community screening program, and we have pamphlets for it. And you can ask about it. It basically does what's called a calcium score, which is a cat scan of the heart looking for calcium, which is a marker of coronary disease. Now, that may lead to other testing in your doctor may want to do other things with that. But that is an excellent program that we have very quick results. And it will open your eyes to say, do I have a problem or not? And then very frequently you'll end up in my office, we'll talk things through, we'll figure out what to do. Now. In the meantime, though, we all know the right things to do. If we're smoking, we got to quit smoking. If we have diabetes, we got to take care of the diabetes and not let your A1 see nine or oh, it's fine, you know, exercise is a great idea. Losing weight if we're overweight and we're all overweight. You know, doing all the right things will make your risk of having this problem much less. Thank you so much, Doctor Lamonto for taking time to talk with us today. Great. Thank you for having me. And, you know, God bless Kirk. And, anybody that's, having any problems, give us a call. We're always here. All and thank you for listening. If you want more information on the Heart Center at Sarah Bush Lincoln or the screening program Heart to Heart, visit our website at Sarah bush.org. That's Sarah with an H. Remember, if you experienced symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, pain, and other parts of the body like your arm, your neck or back, you need to seek medical attention right away. We hope you'll join us again for health styles. I'm your host, Lori Banks. This is where remarkable things happen, where technology and discovery beautifully intertwine with compassionate care. Where people trust the health care professionals of Sarah Bush Lincoln for the most successful of treatments. This is where you'll find some of the brightest minds in medicine, changing people's lives for the better. This is Sarah Bush Lincoln trusted, compassionate care right here, close to home. I wasn't really scared. I didn't that didn't come till later, but, I was just like, okay, if the cardiologist is very concerned, then I should be concerned, and we should. You know, I'm not going to fight you on this. This is what we need to do, you know? But it wasn't until later afterwards that I kind of really thought. Because, you know, like I said, I had no idea up until that day that there was even anything like that majorly wrong. but it wasn't until afterwards when you're going, okay, and then you would think every time you felt something, I was like, you know, you have to make sure it's, you know, you get kind of, you know, you get through this, the scared thing. Okay, you know, should I do this or should I not do this? But like I said, it wasn't really until afterwards that I thought about any of that. It was just at the moment. And I he's I tend to be very calm in a crisis. And I was like, okay, if this is what we need to do, that's what we need to do. So yeah, they went and fixed it. Bush? When I first came to Sarah Bush, I had been experiencing mainly shortness of breath, and not being able to breathe. I wasn't necessarily having pain, at the beginning, I was it was more discomfort. I just I was never comfortable. I couldn't, you know, but didn't think nothing about it. I thought, oh, I'm sleeping or, you know, I've done something and it'll be fine in a few days or whatever. But it was the breathing. I really couldn't breathe. I was struggling to get air. And like I said, I couldn't do anything more than, you know, if I got up in the morning and took a shower, that would be a great accomplishment for the day. And the rest day would be spent doing practically nothing because I couldn't even walking around the house, you know, doing simple tasks, you would get out of breath if you were up and walking for 3 or 4 minutes or whatever, or you'd have to stop and catch your breath. So that's what initially brought me was, okay, I've been able to breathe since whatever day it was, and I need to do something about it. But the the, the catalyst or the final event was there was a couple of nights that when I laid down flat on my back, it felt like somebody was laying on top of me. It was, I told my friend that I, I said that it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. And when I got when I'd sit up, it was better. But when I lay down, it was the same thing. And it it never went away. It wasn't like it was a muscle ache or something. And that's when I knew, okay, something's not right. I don't know what it is, but I know something's not right. And like I said, it wasn't really pain. I wasn't having chest pains. It was more just pressure. And it felt like I was full and it felt like somebody was constricting my lungs, but it was up here in my chest rather than. And that was like I said, it was more just pressure and know that. And I never was really in pain even when I got here. And I this is a weird thing. I drove myself two hours to get here because I was actually visiting my friend down Evansville when all this took place, and I said, I'm going to Sarah Busch. And she's like looking at me because there's like four hospitals in Evansville. And I said, no, I said, I'm going to Sarah Bush. I said, that's where I'm going. I drove myself up here. But, yeah, not really any pain. It was just the a cumulative, effect of not being able to breathe for six months. And then, like I said, the final event was, hey, something's wrong, because it's not just me getting old, me being inactive, that something's wrong, and I need to do something about it. So that's what brought me is the I need the realization in your mind that it's like, hey, it's not just you. You need to figure out what's what's happening. You need to consult somebody that knows more than you do to find out what's happening, because you finally get it in your brain that, you know, it's not just it'll go away. Doctor Carter, Marcus and Service Lincoln were great throughout my whole experience. Doctor Carter Marcus talked to me during my procedure and told me what was going on, which I thought was amazing because I was sitting there. And of course, I don't know. Many of y'all know you're not really awake, but you're not really asleep during the procedure. And out of the corner of my eye, I can see the screens and he's talking to me and I'm not really able to respond, but he's I do remember him reassuring me and telling me why we've been in there so long and what was going on. And then as for the rest of it, the aftercare, everybody was awesome. I have the highest regard for everybody here. Perfect, I said that. My friends and family are probably most amazed by the amount of weight that I've lost. I came in when probably 289 or something like that, and through mats and just being active and center for Healthy Living and Medical Exercise program, as of a month or so ago, I don't know what I weigh now because I haven't I don't pay attention to it. I weighed 232, so a little over 50 pounds, and I didn't think much about it either, until one day I went in to my bathroom at home and looked in the mirror and I always keep my hair pretty close cropped, and I looked in the mirror and I didn't recognize myself because my face was so thin and I was like, who is this guy in the mirror? But I think that's what friends and family so especially people that I haven't seen for a little bit, they look at you and go, because there's not as much of me here anymore as you're used to me, and I don't spend a whole lot of time with a lot of them. But they are also amazed that because before, when they would see me, I was slow. And I would, you know, not be able to do a lot of things. And now we're out, move around, walk around. I'm usually in front because I've always walked fast before my event. I mean, all my life I'm just a fast talker and I didn't do that before. And now I'm back out in front of everybody again and they're like, looking at you funny. And he's a skinny guy that's out in front of us. And I'm not skinny by no means, but a lot more skinny than a lot healthier than I was when I came in here. Overall, you feel new lease on life. Oh, yeah. If I hadn't come when I did, I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now. That's how dire my condition was when I came in here. And again, no idea when I came in here that there is anything wrong with my heart. I just knew I couldn't breathe, and it was like I said, Nick of time, Doctor Lamont, I was like, you shouldn't wait this long. But he goes, at least you got here now because if I had waited much longer, it probably wouldn't have been. It would have been a lot worse than what it is. But yeah, give me a new lease. Let me do things that I wasn't able to do. And for me, opportunities to do things that, you know, I might have never done before. So