A high-risk surgery performed at UK’s Gill Heart Institute gives a Lexington woman back her life in more ways than one.
When Rae Wagoner was in high school she was a successful gymnast, in college she played sports and as an adult she remains active by running, working out at the gym and playing tennis with her eldest son. The 44-year old thought she was in peak health. Wagoner said that all changed in an instant. “I was running. I was about a quarter of the way through my run and it was just like I hit a brick wall.” Wagoner said “my heart just pretty much gave out. I was gasping for air. I was like what the heck? I’d never felt anything like that before.”
Wagoner went to several doctors who had few answers. Then a fainting spell landed her in UK’s ER and under the care of Dr. Sammy Claude Elayi who discovered that 40 percent of Wagoner’s heart beats were abnormal. When medication didn’t work, he performed surgery. “We go inside of the heart through veins and arteries. We put a little catheter like a big spaghetti and we try to go inside the heart on the right and on the left to try and find where is the abnormal beat coming from. And when we find it, we try to zap it by applying some heat”
During the procedure, Dr. Elayi found that the irregular beats were actually coming from the exterior of the heart so the same technique was performed at the Gill Heart Institute with the use of a catheter that went through Wagoner’s ribs. It was a success. “It saved my life” Wagoner said with a smile. “I don’t know of any other doctor that would have been that persistent.”
Wagoner has returned to running and says she’ll soon pick up the tennis racket again and play a match with her son.