Thanks to our community partner MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, this article is reprinted in its entirety from Healthy-Living Magazine Winter 2019 with permission.
Deanna Rothstein isn’t someone you’d expect to see being wheeled back for open heart surgery.
As a fitness instructor, the Leonardtown woman is focused on wellness in her personal and professional life. She is positive, ambitious, and enthusiastic about health.
Deanna works in the Wellness and Aquatics Center at the College of Southern Maryland, where she is the aquatics and community services coordinator, and has taught personal wellness, fitness, and nutrition classes there. The mom of two maintains a healthy weight and exercises regularly. She leads spin classes, too.
But in June 2018, Deanna had a heart attack—shortly before undergoing surgery to treat thyroid cancer at age 48.
Deanna’s experience began at an unrelated appointment with Patricia Wehner, MD, FACS, a surgeon and attending physician in the MedStar Breast Health Program in Leonardtown. Noticing her blood pressure was unusually high, Dr. Wehner’s team recommended she go to the Emergency Department (ED) at nearby MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital for evaluation.
Instead, Deanna promised she would track her own readings over the weekend and go in if the numbers climbed. They didn’t. Following up with primary care on Monday, an EKG showed nothing abnormal.
“I had the thyroid issue already on my plate and was busy, like all of us,” said Deanna, who has a teenage daughter and 21-year-old son. “I didn’t think much more about it.”
A month later, she woke up feeling strange.
Deanna’s reading was 171/111—a hypertensive emergency compared to a “normal” range of less than 120/80.
Deanna rushed to the ED, where she was quickly assessed. The Code Heart policy at MedStar St. Mary’s provides an evidence-based approach to treating patients believed to be suffering an acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), also known as a heart attack. A nurse will complete an immediate assessment on those complaining of chest pain and/or acute coronary symptoms and coordinate appropriate testing. Once the patient is evaluated by a provider and determined to be experiencing a STEMI, Code Heart is activated to provide patients with the appropriate next level of care.
Heart attacks occur when blood clots form around built-up plaque on one or more of the heart’s arteries, blocking critical blood flow and oxygen. Genetic and lifestyle factors contribute to their causes. Particularly at risk are those who use tobacco, are physically inactive, and/or have chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension. Though Deanna did not fit any of these descriptions, she did have a heart attack, likely based on genetics. Transported to the MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC), Deanna was found to have a 90% blockage in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery and 70% blockage in another. The LAD blockage is especially dangerous. According to the American Heart Association, only 10% of those who experience this type of sudden cardiac event outside of a hospital will survive. It’s often called “the widowmaker.”
With her thyroid surgery already scheduled, the team at MWHC determined it was best to perform open heart surgery rather than place stents to hold the arteries open. Her double bypass was completed on a Thursday, and Deanna was able to go home to her family on Sunday morning.
The following month, Deanna underwent another successful surgery on her thyroid. That fateful summer is a year and a half behind her now, and she is “back to her normal life,” aside from her scars and medication.
Deanna credits the quick work of the ED team at MedStar St. Mary’s with helping her story to have its happy result.
Follow-up appointments now include regular visits with Jeffrey Trabb, MD, board-certified cardiologist with MedStar Cardiology Associates in Leonardtown and a member of the MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute. Deanna also sees Maria O’Brien, MD, for primary care through MedStar Medical Group at St. Mary’s.
Commit to yourself and your needs, too, Deanna advised.
This could mean booking an overdue doctor’s appointment, making time for healthy meal preparation and exercise, getting a massage, or just taking a walk.
Deanna Rothstein isn’t someone you’d expect to see being wheeled back for open heart surgery.
As a fitness instructor, the Leonardtown woman is focused on wellness in her personal and professional life. She is positive, ambitious, and enthusiastic about health.
Deanna works in the Wellness and Aquatics Center at the College of Southern Maryland, where she is the aquatics and community services coordinator, and has taught personal wellness, fitness, and nutrition classes there. The mom of two maintains a healthy weight and exercises regularly. She leads spin classes, too.
But in June 2018, Deanna had a heart attack—shortly before undergoing surgery to treat thyroid cancer at age 48.
Deanna’s experience began at an unrelated appointment with Patricia Wehner, MD, FACS, a surgeon and attending physician in the MedStar Breast Health Program in Leonardtown. Noticing her blood pressure was unusually high, Dr. Wehner’s team recommended she go to the Emergency Department (ED) at nearby MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital for evaluation.Instead, Deanna promised she would track her own readings over the weekend and go in if the numbers climbed. They didn’t. Following up with primary care on Monday, an EKG showed nothing abnormal.
“I had the thyroid issue already on my plate and was busy, like all of us,” said Deanna, who has a teenage daughter and 21-year-old son. “I didn’t think much more about it.”
A month later, she woke up feeling strange.
Deanna’s reading was 171/111—a hypertensive emergency compared to a “normal” range of less than 120/80.
Deanna rushed to the ED, where she was quickly assessed. The Code Heart policy at MedStar St. Mary’s provides an evidence-based approach to treating patients believed to be suffering an acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), also known as a heart attack. A nurse will complete an immediate assessment on those complaining of chest pain and/or acute coronary symptoms and coordinate appropriate testing. Once the patient is evaluated by a provider and determined to be experiencing a STEMI, Code Heart is activated to provide patients with the appropriate next level of care.
Heart attacks occur when blood clots form around built-up plaque on one or more of the heart’s arteries, blocking critical blood flow and oxygen. Genetic and lifestyle factors contribute to their causes. Particularly at risk are those who use tobacco, are physically inactive, and/or have chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension. Though Deanna did not fit any of these descriptions, she did have a heart attack, likely based on genetics. Transported to the MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab at MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC), Deanna was found to have a 90% blockage in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery and 70% blockage in another. The LAD blockage is especially dangerous. According to the American Heart Association, only 10% of those who experience this type of sudden cardiac event outside of a hospital will survive. It’s often called “the widowmaker.”With her thyroid surgery already scheduled, the team at MWHC determined it was best to perform open heart surgery rather than place stents to hold the arteries open. Her double bypass was completed on a Thursday, and Deanna was able to go home to her family on Sunday morning.
The following month, Deanna underwent another successful surgery on her thyroid. That fateful summer is a year and a half behind her now, and she is “back to her normal life,” aside from her scars and medication.
Deanna credits the quick work of the ED team at MedStar St. Mary’s with helping her story to have its happy result.
Follow-up appointments now include regular visits with Jeffrey Trabb, MD, board-certified cardiologist with MedStar Cardiology Associates in Leonardtown and a member of the MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute. Deanna also sees Maria O’Brien, MD, for primary care through MedStar Medical Group at St. Mary’s.
Commit to yourself and your needs, too, Deanna advised.
This could mean booking an overdue doctor’s appointment, making time for healthy meal preparation and exercise, getting a massage, or just taking a walk.