Linda Shaw thought she had the flu.
Four years ago, while visiting her sister in Valparaiso, Indiana, the Perrysburg woman awoke at 4 a.m. with the feeling of not being able to lie down any longer. Shaw, who had not been feeling well for some time prior to that, just wasn’t feeling “right,” by her own admission.
Her sister told her she was taking her to the hospital.
There, Shaw learned she didn’t have the flu.
She had had a heart attack.
“I had that kind of [flu] ache. Muscle aches in my arms, across my back,” Shaw said. “No chest pain, no jaw pain. None of the earmarks of a heart attack.”
But inside Shaw’s body were the indicators of a heart attack. That Friday, the doctor told her she had three blocked arteries: one at 98 percent blocked, another at 100 percent and the third at 97 percent. She had triple-bypass surgery the following Monday.
Now 62, Shaw can be found first thing in the morning three days a week in the lower level of ProMedica St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee. She’s a regular at the hospital’s Cardiac Rehab program, which aims to help those who have suffered a heart event regain their health.
“Recent studies show those who get in rehab after a heart event live on average five years longer,” said Karen Sherman, a nurse and cardiac rehab coordinator at St. Luke’s. “Time is muscle. The heart is a muscle.”
The hospital’s cardiac rehab program began in 1983. Through exercise, education and support, the program aims to provide healthier lives for patients who have had a heart attack, bypass surgery, valvular surgery, heart transplant, angina, stents or heart failure.
The program consists of three phases. Phase 1 begins with light education and exercises while the patient is still admitted in the hospital. Phase 2 is a three-month program of monitored exercise and education, with patients coming in three to five times per week. Phase 3 is a maintenance phase for those who want to continue the exercise portion of the program in the hospital setting. Up to 300 people are regularly in the Phase 2 or 3 portion of the program, with more in ProMedica’s other hospitals throughout Northwest Ohio.
Sherman said the hospital encourages patients to start the rehab program within one to three weeks of being discharged.
“The quicker we can get to them and start educating them and exercise them, the better they do,” she said.
After recovering in Indiana for a month following her surgery, Shaw was eager to begin exercising at St. Luke’s. She’s been in Phase 3 for more than three years.
“I’m here because this is my lifestyle, this is where I belong and it’s a comfort to me,” Shaw said after one of her two-hour workouts, which begin as soon as the center’s doors open at 6:15 a.m. “While I don’t worry about it on a daily basis, if something would happen, they’re here for me. In a second, they’re here. … [The center] deals with the whole compass of heart disease. Not just the nutrition and exercise, but the emotional support. We have a great camaraderie here because we’re all here for a reason.”
The communal spirit of the program is beneficial to many patients, who may be experiencing the “cardiac blues” following their heart event, according to Sherman.
“Some people are socially isolated, and they’re depressed after an event,” she said. “Getting them out and interacting with others improves their quality of life.”
Each patient’s exercise program is catered to his or her ability, said Kristin Easter, an exercise therapist in the program.
The patient’s background, risk factors and any health problems they may be experiencing are reviewed during their first day in the program. Because participants may be as young as their 20s to as old as their 90s, there is a wide range in exercise routines.
“That’s a big part of the program — making sure we can provide them with an exercise routine that they feel comfortable with, so it’s all individualized for a patient,” Easter said. “We kind of act as a liaison between the doctor and patient. They may see the doctor once every three to six months but we’re here to keep the doctor updated and let them know how their patients are doing.”
Shaw said the program has helped improve the quality of life for not only herself, but also the lives of her daughters and grandchildren, who say grandma had a “broken” heart. Because Shaw had a heart attack prior to the age of 60, her family is considered at-risk for a heart event.
“It’s hard, I won’t deny. Nothing’s ever laid me out like that,” Shaw said of her heart attack. “But I think what you do is just keep pushing forward. It’s been a blessing for my family. … Since then, my girls, who never had a weight problem, are very conscious now of what they’re putting in their bodies.” Her 10-year-old grandson recently told her, “I’m not going to have a second helping of this, Grandma, because it’s a better choice if I don’t.”
Although Shaw knows she doesn’t “have” to keep showing up three times a week, she has no plans on stopping.
“I’m not done. This is the lifestyle now, and this is something that you have to do for yourself,” she said. “I want to be an example for my grandchildren, so they continue this better lifestyle of being healthier for themselves — so they know it’s their responsibility to be the best that they can be.”
For more information about the program, call (419) 897-8440.
