- Men's Health, Women's Health, Uncategorized, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogWhen gastroenterologist Melanie Lynn Jackson needed someone she could trust to perform acid reflux surgery on her own chronic illness, she turned to Adrian Park, MD, at AAMC. I’m a gastroenterologist, and I come from a family of medical professionals. My grandmother was a nurse, my father was an internal medicine physician in Philadelphia. I found a good opportunity here in Annapolis, and I joined a group practice. The problem I have is that my esophagus, my food pipe, does not contract properly. Normally your food pipe has contractions to get the food down, but mine doesn’t contract well at all. Additionally, where it meets the stomach it was very tight. So, the food pipe was starting to get big, stretching where food was trying to go through something very tight. I was diagnosed with the condition back in 1999 when I was in medical school, and I did some non-surgical methods to treat the problem. That worked well for many years, but then when I became pregnant, my symptoms got worse. That’s when I decided to have surgery. Once I heard that Dr. Park was coming to town, and I read his bio, there was really no excuse to not do the surgery now. He was an expert in this type of procedure. The surgical recovery was probably just about a week or so. Because it was laparoscopic, so you have just the small incisions. The biggest thing was not being able to lift. Of course having a two year old, it was very difficult to lift my daughter who is about 20-25 pounds. I couldn’t do that for about a month. I still have to take my time, swallow my food. I do have to make lifestyle changes, such as small, frequent meals. That’s going to be permanent.
- Senior Care, Uncategorized, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogAfter surviving two heart attacks that happened within months of each other, 82-year-old Bernard Devaney says the cardiac rehab program is bringing him back to his old self one day at a time. I had the first heart attack at the doctor’s office. I couldn’t have been luckier in that sense because, of course, I was right at the AAMC campus and they rushed me to the hospital. I had a valve replaced and two more surgeries for a blockage in the main artery. After a couple of weeks healing, I went into rehab and, on my third visit, the heart stopped again. That had never happened before but the medical staff knew exactly what they were doing and they were outstanding. Of course, I was transferred to the hospital and the ambulance EMT watched the whole thing and said it was a miracle how well and how efficient the hospital staff were. They saved my life. After several weeks of healing and a couple more surgeries, I’m back in rehab and it’s a great program. When I go in, the nurses put a couple of wires on me to monitor me on a screen and take my blood pressure at least four times. I have a defibrillator and a pacemaker that keeps my heartbeat at 60. So if it drops below that, the defibrillator kicks it back up. The nurses at the cardiac rehab center watch me the whole time and tell me what to do. I do 30 minutes on the bike and lift some weights and they are gradually working me up. The difference in just a month is almost a miracle. At first I was walking with a walker. Now I don’t need the walker. It is amazing how the energy and strength at first were gone, but they are both coming back. I’m not back 100 percent but I’m almost there. This past weekend we drove to Ocean City and spent a few days up there. I’ve already signed up for a golf tournament there in a couple of months. But you know, it’s not only that it’s a great place and they know what they’re doing, they are basically the nicest people and they are so good to me.
- Cancer Care, Community, Women's Health, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogAs a breast cancer survivor, Lucretia Jackson knows what it’s like to be a patient. As an elementary school principal, she understands the importance of listening. Lucretia brings both of those skill sets and a seemingly endless supply of energy and dedication to her role as a patient advisor to the hospital safety committee. On the hospital safety committee, we discuss various topics dealing with quality and patient safety. We also talk about what patient advisors can do to advocate for whatever we see that can be improved within the hospital from a patient’s perspective. One of the things we emphasize with regard to patient care is nothing about me without me. As a patient, nothing should ever happen to you without you being part of it. I think it’s crucial to build a culture of patient and family centered safety. We did a lot of brainstorming about different things we could use to improve the handbook that we give to the patients. We thought about videos that we can show to patients as they enter the hospital. I worked very closely with the company that created the hospital whiteboards—a communication tool. The hospital whiteboard is posted inside the rooms and has all the important information pertaining to that patient. It has contact information for the physician or nurse on-call, and uses the SMART acronym: Symptoms, Medications, Appointments, Results and Talking points. It can also include the potential discharge date and the family spokesperson. It even has a spot where a family member can say “contact me” or if they have a question they can pose a question on it and ask for an answer to that question. Patient input on this type of thing is very beneficial. It’s more beneficial than anything for me to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of the patient/family perspective at every point along the continuum of healthcare and decision making and delivery. In my heart, I feel it is an invaluable experience for anyone to serve as a patient advocate–I’m getting to know the “ins and outs” of the hospital and I have an opportunity to see how extremely hard the staff work to make sure everything is done efficiently and effectively when it pertains to patients. They’re with us 100 percent.
- Men's Health, Weight Loss, Women's Health, Wellness, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogAt 47, Andrew Henderson was frustrated by decades of struggling with weight loss and tired of ever-increasing doses of medication for his diabetes. So he enrolled in one of AAMC’s weight loss seminars and—with careful guidance from Alex Gandsas, MD—determined that surgery was the right option for him. Just weeks after his gastric sleeve procedure, Andrew was well on his way to a healthier life. When I first went to the seminar I was 402 pounds and that’s the biggest I’ve ever been. I had tried different diets. I work out. I exercise. I did everything my doctors asked since 2000, but I hadn’t lost any weight. I would come down to 380 and then I’d put the weight on again. I was compliant with my sugar, but my system gets used to the medication and then my doctor would have to put me on more medication. I said to myself ‘I’m getting tired of this. I had the surgery December 6, 2013, and now, a month later, I have lost nearly 50 pounds. When I came home, I was on a liquid diet. After about two weeks, my diabetes doctor said he wanted to take me off the insulin and I’ve been doing well with that. The surgery made a great difference. I have more energy, but I need to keep my protein level up. I know I have to eat smaller meals. You have to make your mind up to change things that you like. I don’t do fried foods. I’ve been eating fish and chicken. My meal plans have really changed, but then the nutritionist in the program helps with that. You have to be compliant and it grows on you. I just started working out a little more. I’m getting ready to start the hospital’s exercise plan that is part of the program for this kind of surgery. My twin brother is going to go through the procedure as well. We’re getting ready to retire in a few years and we want to be healthy. We have been carrying this weight for a long time and we need to make a change.
- Community, Men's Health, Women's Health, Heart Care, Patient StoriesGeneral Page Tier 3BlogAfter John Weitzel had a heart attack at just 47-years- old, his energy levels were down and he just was not able to do the things he used to do. But AAMC’s cardiac rehab program is helping him regain his strength and energy in a safe environment. The cardiac rehab has probably been the most important thing that I’ve done. It’s a safe place to work out while being monitored instead of going to the gym. At the gym, if you’re not feeling right there’s nobody there that can tell you what you need to do. It gets you in the right frame of mind because everybody up there has gone through the same thing and we all have a common goal and the nurses are just fantastic. They’re friendly and they are there when you need them and it’s a great atmosphere. I lost 25 pounds doing the cardiac rehab program and I try to go three or four times a week. The rehab gym is only 15 minutes away from my home—it couldn’t be any more convenient for what I need to do, it’s easy to get there and it’s easy to get in and out. That’s what I would recommend to anybody after a heart attack. Stick to the exercise program. Take advantage of that cardio rehab program, it will get you back on the right track.
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