Winnemucca resident Gerald Hughes said high blood pressure and chest pain led to a stress test. The results landed him at Renown hospital in Reno where he had open heart surgery to replace five blocked coronary arteries - a quintuple bypass.
After a couple of months, his road to recovery included three-times-weekly education and monitored exercise sessions in Humboldt General Hospital's cardiac rehabilitation program.
Those who participate in cardiac rehab report it helps to meet others in a similar situation, in a supportive environment that increases social independence and confidence.
"Everybody here has a good attitude and works hard," said Hughes.
Physical therapist Mike Snow exercises along with his patients every time.
"Mike's a slave driver," Hughes laughed.
Snow said it doesn't take strenuous exercise to rehabilitate and strengthen a heart. He said Reno cardiologist Chad Bidart (a Lowry High graduate) said, "If you can't hold a conversation you're working too hard; if you can sing opera, you're not working hard enough."
Patients alternate exercise between four machines in the HGH physical therapy-rehab room: a treadmill, two bicycling machines that use legs and arms and a cycle for arms alone.
Bill Hammond has been in cardiac rehab at HGH for three weeks. He started the program two months after open heart surgery at Renown to correct an aortic aneurism. Hammond had his first heart attack in 1990.
"I thought my pain was a case of bad pizza," said Hammond. That feeling progressed relatively quickly to "feeling like I had an elephant sitting on my chest."
Thankfully, Hammond's more recent problem was detected before it burst; the bulge closed off much of the rest of his artery.
Will Wesel had a triple bypass after he went to bed Oct. 11 and couldn't breathe. His wife brought him to the emergency room at HGH and after an examination, he was flown to Renown for surgery.
"By noon, I was in recovery," Wesel said. He spent six days at the hospital and started rehab a couple of months after surgery. He's been in rehab three weeks.
"I like it," he said. "It does me good."[[In-content Ad]]
