Charles Askren

“This story is about my father Charles Askren. My father was admitted to the VA Hospital in Cincinnati on February 11, 2010 with chest pains. He had been informed several weeks prior that he needed heart bypass surgery, he was very sick. The VA Hospitals in Cincinnati and Cleveland refused to do the surgery because he was such a high risk. He had had a paracardectomy in 1981 and because of this his heart and lungs had fused together with scar tissue and calcium. Dr. Patel was able to successfully separate his heart and lungs and perform the bypass.

Dr. Patel and the other surgeons saved his life. If they had not agreed to do his surgery, my father may not be here today. He was on a respirator for 5-1/2 days and needed a lot of care.

The nursing staff was absolutely wonderful. My father was having some discomfort and complained about something moving in his chest that was out of the ordinary. The nurses took him for a CT scan and discovered that his sternum had separated. He went in for another surgery on March 1, 2010. His entire sternum was open; the wires used to close had pulled through the bone. Dr. Okum was able to close his sternum with 5 Titanium plates. Again, we could have lost my father, because this is very dangerous.

We are so grateful to the doctors and nurses at UC Health University Hospital; my father could not have gotten any better care. The nurses in CVICU even gave my father the nickname of Papa Smurf. My dad is a very strong man and seeing him on the respirator was very hard, but the nurses understood this and were very kind to all of our needs and us as well. They didn’t even get upset when I would call to check on him at 3:00 in the morning on my way to work.

My dad is living proof the University Hospital saves peoples lives.”

~ Deborah E., Amelia

Physicians/Surgeons:

Dr. Smith, Dr. Guitron, Dr. Patel, Dr. Stevenson, Dr. Heubl, Dr. Booth, Dr. Okum and Bob Osterday(physicians assist).

Nurses:
Carla Blue, Jen Popil, Jen Pettibone, Colin Quigley, Amy Plapp, Bethany Schemmel, Erin Eisenbrei, Kerri Santos, Mieta Koob, Julie Nieman, Rachael Derenski, Tiffany Hemphill, Lisa Winston, Deb Morris, Tia Nicely, Racael Callvin, Lotta Hedberg, Bobbie Metz, Ricky Jones and Colleen Schmidt

For months after quadruple bypass surgery, James Duke was plagued by frequent, severe chest pain. His coronary artery disease continuously worsened, leaving his heart lacking in the ability to circulate blood. A stent helped facilitate blood flow in hopes of easing his pain, but the results were disappointing. James finally found relief at University Hospital, in the form of angiogenesis. This innovative new procedure allows surgeons to inject growth protein directly into the heart, creating new coronary artery branches to increase blood flow.

Physicians at University were the first in the country to use this protein with this technique, and James became the third person to receive this procedure. He’s now pain free, healthy, and living proof of the value of research.