Story Published:
Jul 29, 2010 at 12:20 PM CST
Story Updated:
Jul 29, 2010 at 2:37 PM CST
Waiting in the doctor’s office is something Harold Jackson is used too but today’s visit is a little easier. The news is good, but that hasn't always been the case.
Patient Harold Jackson said, “It used to beat so fast it makes you tired. It didn’t [race] all the time, but then [as time went by] it started to be around 90% of the time that my heart rate would be up around 120.”
The condition is called atrial flutter –that occurs in the upper chambers of the heart. Left untreated it can cause the heart to tire and become weak over time. Harold had been living with this for years and thought there was no hope.
Harold said, “There was a time that they couldn’t do anything for someone who had open-heart surgery because of the scar tissue of the heart surgery caused but Dr. Wathen had developed a new procedure.”
Dr. Mark Wathen spent over 20 years at Vanderbilt heading up their electrophysiology program and his services are new to Cookeville Regional. He had a new treatment for Harold that changed his life.
Harold said, “ He just talked me right through [the procedure] for an hour and a half, and I didn’t have any pain at all. I was glad when it was over and my heart rate went to what it’s supposed to be.
Dr. Wathen, describing that pivotal turning point, said, “That moment was a beautiful moment because you can see this 6 year rhythm stop in one moment; and your natural heart beat picked up right away-- that was the end of the arrhythmia.”
Dr. Wathen inserted a catheter in Harold’s femoral artery and guided it into his heart where a special procedure actually burns part of the heart and alters the current rhythm of the heart changing it forever.
Having an electrical heart specialist on staff brings advantages to patients like Harold who may have been dealing with arrthymias for years.
Dr. Wathen observed, “This case points out that with a heart rhythm specialist sometimes an existing problem can be dealt with and in a new way or in a way that wasn’t previously possible.”
Today Harold is back to doing things other than worrying about his heart.
Harold declared, “ I like fishing with my grandchildren and chasing them here and there--wherever they go.”
Harold is thankful for the advances in healthcare and happy that he could benefit from them.
Harold commented, “Medicine has come a long way and I’m glad that Cookeville’s coming along with it too.”
