January - March, 2003

Cardiac

Back in Circulation

Arriving home one cold, snowy December day, Don Maples and his family did not know a procedure he had gone through just a couple of months before would help save their lives.
Buckled up in the car with their two sons, the Mapleses drove down an ice-covered highway in the middle of a storm. As they slowed to help a car that had gone into a ditch, another car slid the highway and struck their car head on. Don Maples lost consciousness briefly. When he awoke, he saw his wife Linda leaning forward with her head on the steering wheel looking very pale and lifeless.
Not knowing the condition of his two sons in the back seat, Don went through a time of intense struggle. He got out and tried to pry the driver's side door open; but it was smashed in tight. Don started a long walk up the highway to get help, not knowing that he himself had four broken ribs and a bruised sternum. His efforts led to help and rescue for all the members of his family.
Doctors told Don that his hike in the snow was the biggest test that he could have taken to see how strong his heart was. Just a few months earlier, Don had gone through a new state-of-the-art procedure called enhanced external counter pulsation, EECP.
EECP is a procedure that causes blood to flow from the legs back up to the heart. The patient puts on spandex pants and lies on a machine for about an hour, while blood is compressed sequentially with the patient’s heartbeat. This is an alternative for patients who are experiencing angina pain and who may not be candidates for surgery.
St. John’s cardiologist Paul Freiman, M.D., explains that this treatment is successful for some angina patients and is being researched for further advancement.
“At this time EECP is indicated for angina,” Freiman said. “In the future, studies may indicate treatment for things such as congestive heart failure, but for now this procedure will allow people to resume active lifestyles.”
Don says he used to live with continual pain in his chest and was always tired. An average day for him was sitting in his recliner with his remote control in hand. Occasionally he would get up to get the mail, but that was so exhausting to him he couldn’t do it often. Don had a heart attack in 1999, three angiograms, and because he was a diabetic he is not a candidate for surgery.
“I had no other option so I said I would agree to do EECP,” Don said. “I was willing to do anything to get rid of the pain. I was skeptical and very nervous. When you first go in to do a procedure there is a room full of doctors and nurses, and that can be very intimidating.”
The EECP patient wears spandex pants with pressurized cuffs in the calves, thighs, and buttocks, which create a squeezing sensation that helps pump blood back up to the heart and alleviates some of the blockage in the arteries, says St. John’s Nursing Assistant Scott McFall.
“I thought the pants were too small at first, and said I would do it once, but that was all, never again,” Don laughs.
McFall says the nursing staff really tries to keep patients coming back so the procedure will work. He adds that if the patient only takes one or two treatments the procedure will not do any good.
"It can be boring lying on a table for an hour, so we try to keep the patients entertained," McFall says. "We really have the opportunity to talk and get close to the patients, and that gives us the chance to find out what is going on in their lives."
Linda says she was not the only one who could tell an immediate difference in her husband’s life.
"Even the people at church would comment about how Don would start laughing and joking when he never did that before," Linda says.
Don quickly decided one treatment wasn’t enough, and went through treatment five days a week for seven weeks. He says the treatment went quickly and the atmosphere the nurses provided allowed him to relax.
"Scott (McFall) would check my blood sugar after every treatment," Don says. "He would never let me go until I had had a cracker or something to get my blood sugar back up. The St. John’s nurses really care about you."
Don was the first person to go through and finish the EECP procedure. He has attended the first support group in the nation for EECP patients.
The Mapleses are excited and believe that this medical breakthrough is a technological advancement that people need to know about.
"It totally changed me," Don says. "It made me feel a whole lot better and now I can do things I wouldn’t do before like go to Silver Dollar City and even grocery shop with my wife."
Don says EECP gave him a new lease on life.
"That machine saved my life in two ways," Don says. "It gave me better physical condition, but it also gave me quality of life that I can spend with my family. That car accident was a test and if it were not for EECP I would not have passed.”
Don says this procedure is not a cure and he still takes medication, but he doesn't have the pain he had before.
Linda is thankful everyday for the procedure and the impact it has made on their family.
"I would wake up in the middle of the night to make sure he was breathing. I would call during the day and check on him always being afraid to go anywhere or to leave him by himself,” she says. “I don't worry about him now."