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

Alisha, Addison and Cory

Alisha Loudon calls her daughter a miracle. But what is most extraordinary is Loudon’s medical journey to having her daughter. Based on the medical literature, women with her condition only have a 50 percent chance of surviving labor and delivery.

In July 2006, Loudon, now 30, of Clermont County, was diagnosed with a rare vascular condition that caused her to experience spontaneous blood clots in the deep veins in the abdomen and pelvis. The condition was a medical anomaly—she was a young, nonsmoker with no family history of vascular disease and no discernable blood disorders that would lead to blood clots.

She ended up in a community hospital after mild back pain that led to unexplained abdominal pains and swelling in both her legs. The pain was so intense, she could barely walk. After 17 days without answers, she was referred to a UC Health hematologist Carl Siegrist, MD, whom immediately admitted Loudon to the emergency room at UC Health-University Hospital. It was there that Loudon met vascular surgeon Amy Reed, MD, and began a barrage of medical treatment in an attempt to save her life.

Loudon was rushed to the angiography suite where the main vein in the abdomen was opened up with clot-busting medicine, a small suction tubing (catheter) to remove clots and ultimately balloons and stents—all done through small needle punctures in her legs in an attempt to prevent fatal blood clot from breaking away and traveling to her lungs.

“Ms. Loudon has May-Thurner syndrome, an unusual disorder where the constant pulsation of the iliac artery over the top of a large vein in the hip area can cause scarring inside the vein much like a spider’s web,” explains Reed, who is also an associate professor of surgery at the UC College of Medicine and program director of the vascular surgery fellowship and integrated residency. “At some point, flow through the vein will get sluggish enough that the entire system, including the largest vein in the body, can clot off.”

Four surgeries, five permanent stents and a blood transfusion later, Loudon was stable despite the odds.

Loudon was told at the time she had the stents put in that it would be too risky from a medical perspective to have children because of the high likelihood that the stents would be crushed and possibly lead to a life-threatening blood clot for her and possible demise of her fetus. She was put on blood thinners and, fortunately, experienced no further complications.

Although the doctors had cautioned against it, in July 2008 Loudon and her husband decided they wanted to have children and started trying to conceive. She made an appointment to see Arthur Evans, MD, a UC Health maternal-fetal medicine obstetrician and chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department at UC. Evans and his team manage high-risk pregnancies through the University Hospital Perinatal Treatment Center and serve as part of the Fetal Care Center of Cincinnati, a collaboration between UC Health, University Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“Both Dr. Evans and Dr. Reed felt very strongly that I should not get pregnant and carry a child, so after much discussion we went to see a surrogacy doctor to determine alternative options,” recalls Loudon.

Four and half weeks later, the couple found out they were expecting.

“Even though my doctors advised against it, I felt like my pregnancy happened for a reason and I wanted to have the baby.”

Under the combined monitoring and care of Evans, his maternal-fetal medicine fellow Ryan Loftin, MD, and Reed, Loudon progressed through her pregnancy without any major problems or complications. She was placed on and the blood thinner Lovenox to prevent life-threatening blood clots and monitored progressively—first monthly, then weekly and eventually twice a week—by Evans and Loftin for signs of distress in her or the baby.

On July 6, 2009, Loudon and her husband Cory welcomed their daughter, Addison, who was delivered by Evans and Loftin at UC Health University Hospital via scheduled cesarean section two weeks early.

“Everything went perfectly and my doctors took such amazing care of me,” says Loudon. “Addison is our one and only little miracle baby. We are so thankful for her.”

After the birth, Loudon underwent tubal ligation to prevent future pregnancies because her body physically wouldn’t be able to take the stress of another pregnancy. A follow-up ultrasound of her venous stents miraculously found that they had not been crushed and remained wide-open.

“Very few patients in the world have been reported to come through a successful pregnancy without crushing these stents,” says Reed. “Alisha and Addison are true miracles. I am so happy they proved us and the odds wrong.”

“I had 100 percent faith in Dr. Evans the moment I met him and I was referred to him by four different people, so this gave me comfort. I feel as if Dr. Reed has been my guardian angel from the very start of my medical treatment in 2006. My daughter and I are both living proof that University Hospital makes miracles happen!”

Dr. Reed- vascular surgeon
Dr. Evans- chairman of high risk OB
Dr. Loftin- high risk OB
Dr. Seigrist- hematologist

Robert Brown, Cincinnati

“It’s a beautiful day near the end of the summer and I am laying on the walk in front of my house bleeding to death.  I hear sirens approaching from the distance. At the beginning of the summer, I elected to have an endovascular AAA repair. After a series of misadventures and six procedures later, I was delivered by EMS squad to University Hospital ER. The first time my femoral artery pseudo aneurysm ruptured I was actually in the hospital. When, about a month later, home alone, I felt the horrifying warmth and gush again, I called 911, identifying myself, my location and condition. Declining to stay on the phone, I decided to lay on my front walk to “wait for the boys”.

When the squad arrived, I waved, as if the guys couldn’t figure out their patient was the guy laying on the walk in a pool of blood. Wavering on the edge of consciousness, I was transported to the ER. I did not regain full awareness until several minutes later in the ER. Before going to emergency surgery to address the immediate emergency, I met Dr. Giglia.

Over the next couple of days we talked. I recall telling him I couldn’t endure another rupture. He gave me an article discussing the procedure he proposed. We agreed to proceed.

 Now, just over a year since, I am still recovering. I have retained my life and my leg. I am grateful for all the people who participated in this adventure. I am especially grateful to Dr. Giglia and have an enduring admiration for his competence, imagination and confidence. ”

- Robert Brown, Cincinnati

Doctors perform surgery on a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm

 Physicians noted: Joe Giglia, Carlos Rosales, Hosam El-Sayed, Michael Ward, et al.

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.

Jack Hunt had a difficult 14 years. It started in 1992 when he was diagnosed with severe heart disease and told he only had a few months to live. He persevered until his condition finally became so bad that he couldn’t leave his home. In 2005, he got a pacemaker that his body rejected. He then had six cardiac arrests in one month and was in dire need of a heart transplant. Dr. Shahab Akhtar at University Hospital was ready when Jack’s donor match was found.

Within 12 hours of the surgery Jack was sitting up having lunch. Only months removed from barely being able to walk, Jack went out and started a mini-marathon team in honor of his donor, Kyle Hunlock. Jack thanks Kyle and his family for giving him a second chance, and he thanks University Hospital for making him living proof.

Last summer, Mark Johnson approached a coworker and asked for a ride home. He also asked the friend to drive his truck – and no one drives Mark’s truck but Mark. Obviously, something wasn’t right. Shortly after they left the job site, Mark slumped over in the passenger seat – the result of a massive heart attack. The first hospital the paramedics took him to didn’t perform angioplasties, so he was immediately Air Cared to Dr. Saeb Khoury at University Hospital. Upon arrival, Mark wasn’t even breathing on his own.

When his wife Cindy found out, she rushed over to find him in the care of his “Team of Angels” – the cardiac cath team and critical care nurses at University. After six weeks in their care, Mark recovered to the point that he was completely free of lingering effects.

Robert McFarland was finishing breakfast when the right side of his body froze. “My right hand was numb. I couldn’t raise it. I couldn’t talk.” The  next moments were a blur. Paramedics. University Hospital. The clot-busting drug TPA, given an hour and 47 minutes after his stroke. Robert benefited from the team approach University Hospital uses to treat stroke. An angiogram indicated his carotid artery was closed off, and quick action by Dr. Mario Zuccarello and Dr. David White kept him alive.

Though he arrived completely paralyzed, Four days later he was walking, talking, and giving his doctor a hug. When it comes to the power of teamwork, Robert is living proof.