On Friday, April 5, 2024, Howard Mednikoff woke up at 4:30 in the morning with severe chest pain. It felt as though “an elephant” was sitting on his chest. He asked his wife to take him to The Valley Hospital Emergency Department.
After blood work, vital checks, and additional diagnostic tests, it was discovered the 67-year-old had experienced multiple heart attacks over the previous months. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“There were zero signs that this was happening,” Howard said. “I went to the gym every day for at least an hour and walked my dog over two miles each day as well.”
To further evaluate his heart’s function, Howard underwent an ultrasound of his heart, known as an echocardiogram, and a cardiac catheterization – a procedure in which a small catheter is inserted into a blood vessel in the wrist to assess blood flow into his heart arteries. The Oakland native’s heart was operating at only 8% efficiency due to multiple blockages of his coronary arteries.
“It was immediately recommended that I undergo open heart surgery to fix this,” said Howard. “I was shocked that I even had a heart issue.”
On Tuesday, April 9, Habib Jabagi, MD, Director of the Aortic Aneurysm Program at The Valley Hospital, performed a multi-vessel coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), the most common cardiac procedure, “which creates new highways of blood behind blockages using healthy blood vessels from another part of the body” as Dr. Jabagi described.
“My heart was so calcified they had to do a quintuple bypass using four veins from my legs and an artery from my chest,” said Howard. “But from the moment I woke up, I was surrounded by so many helpful people.”
Days after his surgery, Howard was moved from The Valley Hospital’s previous location in Ridgewood to its new location in Paramus, New Jersey. He was the first cardiac ICU patient admitted to the new hospital. Howard was released from the hospital after 10 days.
Upon returning home, Howard used Valley Home Care for at-home physical therapy and nursing. After some complications, including an infection to his incision site and a DVT – a blood clot in a deep vein in the leg – a home care nurse assisted for six weeks with a wound VAC machine, which helps to keep out infection from a wound and promotes healing.
Starting in August, Howard underwent cardiac rehabilitation at Valley for three months.
“Everyone I came into contact with, from the hospital to Home Care to rehab, was nicer than the person before. I felt like this wasn’t just a job to them, and they really wanted me to do better,” said Howard. “After my surgery, I switched all of my doctors to be Valley physicians, including making the cardiologist I saw in the hospital, Kariann Abbate, MD, Director of the Center for Comprehensive Heart Failure Care and Associate Director of the Cardiovascular Service Line for The Valley Hospital, my main cardiologist.”
More than six months post-surgery, Howard is doing great. “My life has changed, and I’ve never felt better. I have lost 50 pounds, I am back at the gym, and I am feeling great. I could not have asked for a better surgeon, hospital, or treatment for my heart care.”