Before I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy,
my life was very full.
I had three children, very active children.
I was a wife, a daughter, obviously a mother,
very involved in philanthropy, my children's school,
and just about any committee out there,
I would raise my hand and become involved in.
My experience where my heart started
to give me some concerns was that I would have palpitations.
I would feel my heart racing.
My heartbeat would go from a normal heartbeat,
would raise into the hundreds,
and it would be for no specific reason.
I did seek medical treatment elsewhere,
and I was looked at as a young woman.
I was 45 years of age.
I had no pre-existing health conditions.
I do not have any family history.
And it was perplexing.
I was told that it was benign
and that I should just go about my life
and maybe stop caffeine, deep breathe, relax,
and I suffered a heart attack.
And I received some treatment,
but then I was told to try to get back to my life,
and I was on the proper meds and life should resume
to normal at some point, but it did not.
Life became very difficult for me at that point,
and that's when I found Rush,
thankfully, through a magazine article.
Debbie came to me after she had suffered a heart attack
in 2002, and she was just not doing well,
and she didn't feel like she was getting good care
from her physicians at the time.
She didn't feel well.
She was told to take a vacation,
to see if that would help her with her wellbeing.
And on her way to her vacation,
she picked up an O Magazine,
which featured Ms. Winfrey
during her visit to Rush,
and she decided that when she came back
from her vacation that she would come see me.
And I saw how she was being treated by other doctors,
and I knew we could improve on her treatment.
My life changed that day.
I realized that I was very, very ill,
and I was lucky to be alive
because the testing that I carried with me
from my previous doctors,
the answers were right there.
My heart was very, very damaged.
So I did not leave Rush from that appointment.
I was admitted.
Debbie had an experience with a heart attack
that her doctors couldn't really understand
because she didn't have any blockages
in the arteries of her heart,
but she did have a heart attack.
She felt uncomfortable exercising,
and I said, "Well, let's do a stress test,"
and during the stress test,
she had a life-threatening arrhythmia
that led to her defibrillator.
The device that was implanted was done
by the electrophysiology team,
and it was explained to me why I needed the device.
Her quality of life markedly improved. She felt better.
We got her on the right medications. Her heart normalized.
And after cardiac rehab,
she really led a pretty normal life.
It was the complications of the defibrillator.
She's had some complications of the leads being replaced.
In January of 2021, I had to have my device extracted
and a new device implanted in my chest.
And I, historically,
from day one have had three cardiac leads
that go into my heart that assist the pumping of my heart,
and one is a defibrillator lead.
And the lead that goes to the left side of my heart,
it was not performing.
There were certain abnormalities
with her specialized type of pacemaker defibrillator
that needed correction, and that's where I step in.
So that's where Dr. Volgman referred her to come see me
to talk about some of those options.
Dr. Sharma, when I met him, really put me at ease.
His bedside manner, his knowledge,
he spent a lot of time reviewing my case,
which is very in depth.
It covers 18 years at Rush.
I felt that he was looking to educate me
on my different options,
but he was asking me to partner
with him in making the right decision,
and we came up with a game plan that he would go in.
He would take a look and see if he would be able
to extract the lead and then insert a new lead.
We tried to implant another lead back
in the same region of the left bottom chamber,
but there were no good options
despite trying for about two hours.
So we then decided to proceed
with His bundle pacing slash conduction system pacing.
I was made very calm, assured of the His bundle procedure,
and I gave the go-ahead that if they were not able
to insert the left lead again
that I would like the His bundle.
In essence, it's like bypassing an area of disease.
So you bypass it with this pacing lead.
We were able to find a spot on the conduction system
or the electrical wires of the heart
where we could place the lead successfully
and still maintain synchronized contraction
of the bottom chambers of the heart,
thereby continuing to preserve what we had done
over the course of all these years
and still give her a very good result.
And so now I have the His bundle procedure,
and I feel very optimistic about it.
Life is good.
I do not notice any difference in my quality of life.
And the last check that we did based
on an ultrasound test or an echocardiogram,
the squeezing function of her heart is completely normal,
about 55 to 60%.
She feels well. She's active and exercising.
So I'm very happy with how she's done.
This technique has been out for close to over a decade now,
and I was fortunate enough to be a part of the group
that first described this technique.
And currently, we use it as the standard pacing option
for most of our patients.
My care team from day one has been wonderful.
Some of the same faces are here over 18 years.
I recognize them. They recognize me.
It is definitely my home here, my heart home.
I feel very, very comfortable and safe.
Patient first, that's our motto.
We always put our patients ahead of everything else,
and we will always do whatever's in their best interest
to ensure that they have a good outcome
when it comes to their heart health.
As a patient, you could go anywhere for your health care.
But I think once you find an institution like Rush
and you feel that they have given you great care,
I run here.
I mean, any issues, this is where I'm at,
and it's a miracle that I'm here
because all odds against me when I arrived at Rush.
I should not be here today, but there was a message,
there was a plan, and I'm very, very fortunate
that I read a magazine article.