HEART
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Treasure Coast Medical Report
“My daughter and I would go shopping and would park
way out,” she recalls. “I would say, ‘Do we have to park this
far?’ My daughter responded, ‘Mom, you need to walk.’
By the time I got into the store, I would be exhausted. I was
getting to where everything was almost a drudgery. I also
noticed I had become kind of pale.”
Hales’ aortic stenosis had become severe, so her cardiologist
recommended a heart catheterization and other tests that
determined she was a candidate for the TAVR procedure.
“Aortic stenosis is a relentlessly progressive disorder,”
explains McIntyre. “What that means is the aortic valve starts
with a murmur, but over time the orifice or the opening of the
valve gets smaller and smaller and smaller. So, it gets to the
point where the aortic valve is going to take that person’s life
if it’s not replaced.”
A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
McIntyre performed TAVR on Hales at Martin Health System
in March 2018. Her children saw instant results immediately
following the surgery.
“When my children came into the ICU, they said, ‘Mom,
your color is back! You look great, you look vibrant!’” she
says. “It was amazing. That’s telling you how fast the blood
began to circulate. Before, it wasn’t flowing like it should.”
Hales stayed in the hospital for only two days after her
surgery, and she says she felt absolutely wonderful.
“Most of the patients with TAVR are transfemoral assessed
— they’re up and walking at the end of the day,” says
McIntyre. “No chest incisions, and they’re home about 48
hours after the procedure. There’s not really much in the way
of discomfort because there’s no sternotomy.”
MARTIN HEALTH SYSTEM
>> Hales feels more energetic and is in better health since her procedure.
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