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‘Like day and night’
CARDIAC IMAGING AND STRUCTURAL HEART
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Innovative heart procedure transforms woman’s life.
To Jennifer May, a medical supply warehouse employee, feeling exhausted after a hard day’s work is part of the trade. Outside of work, the Jacksonville native lives by the motto "work hard, play hard." However, at just 40 years old, she noticed a flutter in her heart that made working her day job and living life to the fullest impossible.
In Fall 2018, May developed palpitations and a feeling that her heart was pounding fast and was “going to burst” inside her chest. She tried to ignore the sensation, but it worsened and began to impact her performance at work. After just a few minutes of standing, May felt short of breath and needed to sit down and rest. “I had trouble sleeping,” May said. “I started to withdraw from my family because the feeling in my chest would give me such anxiety. It was unbelievably scary.” After remembering the comprehensive care her niece received for a neuromuscular disorder at Baptist Health, May decided to self-refer to Baptist Heart Specialists. “I trusted Baptist Health’s care,” May said. “I knew that I was going to be taken care of.” From evaluation to exceptional solution
Working together, Electrophysiologist Aaditya Vora, MD, and Interventional Cardiologist Salil Patel, MD, FACC, met with May and ordered a full cardiac workup, including a stress test and an echocardiogram. May was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick, increasing blood pressure and making it more difficult for blood to be pumped throughout the body. “This condition can put patients at risk of developing an irregular heartbeat or having a heart attack,” Dr. Vora said. “It’s critical for anyone who is young and experiencing symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath or a faster-than-normal heartbeat get evaluated by a cardiologist.” Dr. Patel realized May required an exceptional solution. “We didn’t want her to undergo an invasive heart procedure if she didn't have to, especially due to her young age,” Dr. Patel said. “We wanted to find a balance between alleviating her symptoms and subjecting her to an open-heart procedure.”
Jennifer May (right) and her husband, Brett (left), travel whenever they can to remind themselves that every day can bring a new adventure.
Alcohol septal ablation: an ideal option
Dr. Patel referred May to Siddharth Wayangankar, MD, interventional cardiologist who offered May a state-of-the-art heart intervention called alcohol septal ablation to improve her blood flow. “Ms. May did not want open-heart surgery to address her condition, making alcohol septal ablation an ideal option,” Dr. Wayangankar said. During this procedure, patients are awake under twilight sleep while a catheter delivers 100% alcohol to areas where the heart muscle is too thick. This causes the tissue to shrink and die, restoring blood flow and greatly decreasing symptoms. Baptist Heart Hospital is one of a few in the country to offer this unique procedure.
After receiving her ablation, May said, “I feel so much better, I was back to myself just one day later,” May said. “I can finally sleep. I can exercise or walk without feeling fatigued or out of breath. For the first time in four years, I feel free.”
