Health Aware: Many more treatment options for today’s heart failure patients
Submitted February 25, 2013 1:20PM
Patty OMara-Croft of Oswego has documented the development and treatment of her heart failure condition and its impact on her and her family in a memoir titled Pulse of My Heart.
Updated: March 28, 2013 6:15AM
Patty O’Mara-Croft of Oswego developed heart failure after a major heart attack eight years ago at the age of 43. The extreme fatigue and other symptoms made it increasingly difficult to keep up with the demands of her teaching career and family of seven.
Before she found heart failure and transplant specialist Dr. Maria Rosa Costanzo of Edward Heart Hospital and Midwest Heart-Advocate Medical Group, O’Mara-Croft had been through an arduous course of treatment, which included angioplasty with stents, implantation of an ICD (pacemaker-defibrillator), IV inotrope treatment to reduce her heart’s workload, multiple hospitalizations and numerous heart medications.
When Dr. Costanzo saw O’Mara-Croft in 2006, she was still quite ill and the doctor admitted her to a transplant hospital to determine if she was a candidate for the surgery. Unfortunately, tests showed a high level of antibodies that meant her body would reject most any transplant.
Dr. Costanzo adjusted O’Mara-Croft’s medication, including weaning her off the inotrope as she unexpectedly started to feel better. Because heart failure is a progressive condition, however, she still would be vulnerable to future episodes of debilitating symptoms.
Dr. Costanzo thought it was time to look at another treatment option that was being evaluated in a clinical trial at Edward — surgery to insert an elastic netting around the enlarged heart to keep it from further expansion. O’Mara-Croft was accepted to the trial, and she had the device inserted in June 2009.
Today Dr. Costanzo continues to monitor O’Mara-Croft’s medications and how her heart is functioning. Now 51 years old, Patty has returned to the classroom, and she and her husband, Brian, do regular workouts together at their gym.
Learn more about Patty’s story, including information about her recently released memoir, “Pulse of My Heart,” at www.pulseofmyheart.net. Visit www.edward.org/heart for more information about Edward Heart Hospital.
Health Aware is courtesy of Edward Hospital
