Heart Month: Kennedy Recovers from Aortic Aneurysm

The Daily Journal

Antha Kennedy knows first-hand the importance of taking care of your heart. The 75-year-old Park Hills resident survived an aortic aneurysm in 2018.

Thanks to the help of her cardiologist at St. Luke’s Hospital, her surgeon and nurses at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, and her support team at Parkland Health Center’s Huckstep Heart and Lung Center, Kennedy has made a miraculous recovery.

“I'm amazed every day,” she said, “every day.”

February is American Heart Month. According to the American Heart Association, one in three women will die from heart disease and stroke – making it more deadly than all cancers combined.

In early 2018, Kennedy started to notice that she couldn’t catch her breath. But she just thought it was because of her weight and being inactive.

“But then one night, I woke up from a deep sleep and couldn't catch my breath,” she explained. “And I thought that's not being lazy.”

She called her cardiologist, Dr. Clark McKenzie with St. Luke’s in St. Louis, who she had been seeing for a carotid artery.

Dr. McKenzie sent her to get an echocardiogram at the Heart Health Center in Farmington.

“I finished about 11:30,” she said. “I got home close to 12 o'clock. He called at 12:30. And he said, ‘Get up here. You had a heart attack and it's a bad one.’”

Kennedy never had any chest pains, just the shortness of breath.

According to the American Heart Association, shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort is a common heart attack symptom for women.

Although she hasn’t had cigarette since 2013, she smoked for 55 years, which she said put her at a higher risk for a heart attack.

Her cardiologist sent her to cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Michael Mauney at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis for further testing. On Feb. 22 of 2018, she underwent surgery for her aortic aneurysm. She had to have two stents.

Between Feb. 22 and April 17, Kennedy spent 27 days in the hospital after developing an infection.

“The hospital was wonderful,” she said. “The nurses on the surgery floor were absolutely amazing.”

In June, Dr. McKenzie told her he wanted her to go to Huckstep at Parkland for cardiac rehab.

“I told him, I said, Dr. McKenzie, I feel really good,’” she explained. “’I would really rather not. And he said, ‘Well, I really would rather you did.’ So I did. He gave me a script for three months. And that was four years ago. I just kept going back.”

According to Parkland Health Center, the Huckstep Heart and Lung Center offers medically supervised programs for clients with heart disease or breathing disorders. The programs help prevent the clients from losing function while at the same time helping them to remain in control of their lives.

Kennedy loves her support team at Huckstep: nurse Amy Reed, certified respiratory therapist Belinda Drennen, exercise physiologist Derek Smallen, and respiratory care supervisor Stephanie Privett. She said they are so helpful and friendly.

“They're just amazing over there,” she added. “They are so knowledgeable. And when I told him I had had an aortic aneurysm, they were stunned that I was walking around.”

She credits the Huckstep team with helping her maintain her heart health since her surgery.

Two to three days a week, Kennedy walks on the treadmill or uses the NuStep cross trainer.

After her first echocardiogram after starting Huckstep, Dr. Mckenzie told her to tell them that her ejection fraction was 45%.

“They were just ecstatic,” she explained. “And I thought, ‘OK, whatever.’ Because I didn't know what it was. But it's the pressure that your heart has. And when I went for surgery, it was 25.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, ejection fraction is a measurement of the percentage of blood leaving your heart each time it squeezes (contracts). A normal ejection fraction is about 50% to 75%, the American Heart Association says.

Kennedy’s doctor has also been able to cut the dosage for her diabetes medication in half since she started at the rehab center.

“I feel like I'm doing amazing,” she said. “I'm not exactly sure. I've never been 75 years old before. But I'm pretty sure that I'm a fair 75-year-old.”

She also has some advice for others who might have concerns about their heart health.

“Go to a doctor, get it all checked out,” she said.

Recently, Parkland Health Center opened its new Cardiac Cath Lab to provide more heart health services for the Parkland area. According to the health center, the lab uses advanced technology to diagnose and treat a range of heart conditions.