Joey Wahler (Host): What's it like undergoing a
cardiac procedure? We're going to find out from someone that's done so at
Crouse Health, this is Crouse HealthCast podcast from Crouse Health.

Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Wahler, our guest, Dan
Cummings, who recently had two stents inserted at CrouseHealth. Dan, thanks for
joining us.

Dan Cummings: It's good to be here, Joey, believe me.
It's good to be here.

Joey Wahler (Host): Literally and figuratively,
right?

Dan Cummings: Yeah. They definitely did a life saving
procedure on me for sure.

Joey Wahler (Host): Well, we're gonna talk about that
of course. And fortunately you can smile about it now. First, a little bit
about your background, if you would. You're retired a year ago after this
award-winning 37 year career as a TV news anchor at WSYR in Syracuse. So
congrats on a great run. And what's retirement been like so far?

Dan Cummings: Well, Joey, thank you for that.
Retirement has been awesome, especially after Crouse fixed me up. But when I
retired I thought, well, I'm gonna get back on the treadmill because I'd done
five marathons, probably half a dozen half marathons, boiler makers in Utica. I
was a distance runner for my whole life.During Covid, you know, like most of
the rest of us I fell off the conditioning, a little bit or a lot and I
figured, well, no excuse now. I'm retired, I got time, I'm getting back on the
treadmill. And so I did early in January of this year, and I just found that
normally I'd be fine after 30, 45 minutes. That's a great workout on the treadmill.

I was not only tired, but like I could feel a not very
pleasant sensation in my upper torso. Not chest pressure the way you
traditionally think of it, but it's like that's harder than it should be. I
kept telling myself and I said, I'm gonna, I got my breath back. Heart rate
came down. But it still was like, this shouldn't be that difficult, but it was.
And that was last January. So retirement didn't get off to a very good start,
and that's why I had to pursue this a little bit with my doctor. And then immediately
with Crouse Cardiology.

Joey Wahler (Host): And so speaking of which or of
whom, tell us about the cardiologist you turn to at Crouse Health and what he
found initially was pretty alarming?

Dan Cummings: Well, there was Joey. I mean, first I
went to my general practitioner who's a part of the internist, Dr. Mark
Obacker, super guy. I've known him for years. They get my annual physical in
March, and I said, Mark the treadmill workouts are harder than they should be.
I don't know why, I haven't had an EKG in years. And my brother tells me about
a heart history on my mother's side of the family. So even though I seem to be
the picture of health, otherwise, maybe I should have you take a closer look or
something, at the heart or my, and he says, all right, you've convinced me,
Dan. I'm gonna get you in for a stress test and I failed it.

On St. Patrick's Day, he got me in for a stress test at
cardiology for Crouse, and I didn't pass. So that means there's a problem
there. And Dr. Bohemi, the cardiologist who has been a blessing from that day
forward. He came in and said, Dan, you know when you're working out and your
heart. Reaching that maximum exertion that we put you through, your heart
should be getting, smaller, he said, it's a big muscle and when it's really
working the way it should, it's contracting and expanding. It's supposed to get
smaller. He said, your heart is getting bigger. And he said, we don't like to
see that.

And he said, the most likely reason we're seeing it is
because not getting enough blood to the heart, and something's going on there,
and I want to get you in for a catheterization tomorrow, the next day, the day
after St. Patrick's Day. We're gonna see what's going on in there. And so they
did. By seven o'clock the next morning I was at Crouse Hospital and they had me
in the cath lab for a little closer look.

Joey Wahler (Host): And what they found was a major
blockage, right?

Dan Cummings: They sure did, Joey. I went through a
standard capitalization procedure, I say standard first time, hopefully the
last time I've ever had to have it. But for the people in the cath lab and Dr.
Hula Hanon, who did my procedure, they might do six of these a day or six of
'them before lunch. I don't know. But I was the first one in that morning. And
yeah, they go in through the wrist with the catheter, they check out your
arteries and they see where the flow of blood is and where it isn't. And what
Dr. Hanon found was a 95% blockage. In the L a D artery, the major artery that
puts blood to the heart.

And I don't know if your listeners are aware of it, but I
became aware of it that day. The LAD artery has a nickname. You know what the
nickname is for the L a d artery? The widow maker. Because if you've got a 95
percent blockage in the widow maker artery and they don't find it and fix it,
that could be real trouble, serious fatal trouble. So here's the deal though,
normally, they go in for a catheterization. They need to clear a blockage in
the arteries. They use the balloon and they use the stents. But it's a
procedure I was told normally if things are going well, takes 45 minutes
generally to do the capitalization, to find the blockage, and if they can
balloon it, stent it, maybe 45 minutes or an hour.

I was in there two hours at least. And it became clear early
on they were having some difficulty placing the stents. And the doctor Hanon
even told me I was awake and aware during this whole thing sedated, but I was
up and around lying on my back. But I was certainly aware of everything that's
going on, and he said, damn, I've gotta bring in the shockwave machine for you.
So I'm gonna consult with my colleague. Well, sure enough, he was able to bring
in this machine. Joey, the way he explained it to me was for some years now, if
you've got kidney stones or gallstones, they can use sonar device.

I guess it's like a Sonic waves or little pulse to kind of
break up the kidney stones. So they're little smaller pieces and you can pass
'em. They kind of pulverize 'them. Well, they found they could use similar te. For
the calcium lining in your arteries. Cause they found the blockage, but they
needed to place the stents to open the artery back up. but they couldn't place
the stents for the first hour and a half because that calcium lining in that
major artery. It was just the lining on the wall of the artery and they
couldn't remove that. They didn't need to, but it didn't allow them to place
the stent. So what he did was he rolled in this shockwave machine and gave me
five or six pulses from that.

And that allowed him to create these little fissures in the
calcium lining. And that allowed him finally to place those two stents and open
my artery back up. And it was a blessing and he told me later, he said, and
they were very upfront with me all the way. If they could not have used that
shockwave machine that morning to open up the artery and place those stents, I
would've been, an immediate candidate for open heart surgery for bypass. So,
They saved my life that morning without question. And the thing about it, I don't
mean to go on and on, but your podcast, but that shockwave machine, was only
delivered to Crouse I was told, the month or two earlier, in January of this
year's, first time they ever had it.

Cause it was only approved, I guess by the FDA last year
sometime for use in this manner, and Dr. Hanon was experienced with it by the
time I showed up on his cath lab table that morning. So he knew how to use it.
He found out I was a candidate for it. And then he did some miraculous work and
opened up, that artery. It was amazing.

Joey Wahler (Host): Sounds like it. And when you
combine that with the fact that they caught it when they did, it sounds like
the timing was right to say the least. Let me ask you a few other things based
off of that. So you're in the operating room and you just explained how to use
a football term, I guess they called an artery audible, if you will.

Dan Cummings: Yeah.

Joey Wahler (Host): Switched gears. And from what I
understand, Dan, there was a point as you were listening because you say you
were aware of what was going on. There was a point where those working on, you
were talking and you could hear what was going on, and they eventually said
something that put your mind at ease, that all was gonna be fine. What was
that?

Dan Cummings: Yes, because I was awake and aware and
only mildly sedated, I was very much listening to everything going on.
Sometimes with my eyes closed, sometimes with them wide open. And during the
first, oh, I wanna say hour or so of this procedure, Dr. Hanon was talking to
his people in that, cath lab. And it was clear that the stents were not being
placed properly. He'd say stent in stent. Stent in, stent out. Let me try that.
He was talking with his people and then it was like, okay, I knew it wasn't
going well. Then he started talking to me and he said, Dan, I'm gonna consult
with one of my colleagues.

Now we're having difficulty placing the stents. I'm gonna
try to see if you're a candidate for this shockwave machine. And I was. So then
he brought that in, applied those shock waves and. Again, tried to place the
stents in this time instead of his voice sounding kind of concerned and not
making much progress after he was able to begin to put the two stents in, he
said, nice, nice. And I heard the nurses up above and on the other side of the
room, say, And they all echoed that. And I guess I took that Joey as shorthand
for these people knowing that they had been successful, finally. Nice, nice. I
guess maybe they do that every time they have a successful stent implanted. But
for me, that was my first indication that I was gonna be okay and I was.

Joey Wahler (Host): And of course we can hear the
emotion in your voice, Dan, when you talk about that even now, what is it about
the job they did in saving your life and improving your life. Now that makes
you feel the way you do?

Dan Cummings: Well, when I say they, everybody who
saw me and touched me on this Crouse system. From the first go to the end of
it, they were just so superbly professional. I mean, my internist, Dr. Obacker,
knew enough to read the tea leaves and say, yeah, I'll get you in for a stress
test. Let's make sure that things are okay. Or if they're not okay, we get them
fixed up. And then Dr. Bohemi, who immediately saw a problem and got me in the
very next morning as soon as he could for the catheterization, knew exactly
what he was looking for. Dr. Hula Hanon who did the catheterization and saved
my life with the placement of those stents.

But you know, Joey, it wasn't those three guys, it was
everybody around him. from the woman who administered the actual stress test
that I failed, they couldn't have been kinder and more professional and, really
caring about me, the nurses that got me ready for the procedure. The next
morning explained everything about that. I was gonna go through the risks
involved, what could happen. And then what did happen was very successful. And
I know to them, like I say, I know it's not just another day at the ranch for
them. They save people's lives every day. But for me, that day it was me.

And afterwards Dr. Hanon came out and explained everything
to me. The nurses let me sit up and watch one of the NCAA March Madness games.
And I felt up to doing it. He came and explained what he did, how he. Why he
had to do it that way. Got on the phone with my wife, explained the same thing
to her, and then came up in the afternoon to my bed in recovery and he drew a
little diagram on the whiteboard about The artery and how they were able to
open it back up. And then the nurses on the recovery floor upstairs on the
cardiac floor, I mean, could not have been kinder every step of the way.

And they had me out of there the next morning. I mean, I was
discharged. 24 hours later with no real restrictions on my activity. A few meds
I gotta take, but otherwise, I got a new lease on life and they just were
spectacular from A to Z.

Joey Wahler (Host): Wow. So to summarize, tell us of
course, how you're doing now and most important, I think by now our audience
would love to know how's the running going?

Dan Cummings: Well, thanks for asking because they
wanted me to wait a month after I got out of there, before I started any real
running. They wanted me to start walking of course, and I did. I was walking
right away around the neighborhood and then after the follow up with Dr. Bohemi
in May. He cleared me for any and all activity, including vigorous running. I
mean, I'm not doing the long distances anymore, or I should say yet, but I'm
back on not only the treadmill, but outside running upwards of 45 minutes, at a
time, no problem whatsoever. I've joined the Y and I'm doing early morning
workouts two mornings a week.

There I am absolutely back to what I would consider normal
and feeling fantastic, and very, very grateful. So yeah, they're miracle
workers of modern medicine. I don't mean to gush, but why shouldn't I gush You
got me on this show, and I get a chance to say thank you once again. I'm lucky.
I feel extremely fortunate for myself, for my family, and certainly very
grateful for the way this all worked out.

Joey Wahler (Host): Well, considering what you've
been through and how it turned out, and most importantly, the job everyone at
Krauss did, why not gush? And so let me ask you one more thing. Namely,
considering all this great news physically can. Syracuse Coach Jim Behem. Count
on you for five minutes off the bench if he needs it this March.

Dan Cummings: You know, Joey, I think I've still got
some eligibility left. I never used it up. Matter of fact, I didn't use any so
he can have me all he wants. yeah,

Joey Wahler (Host): All right, who knows? Who knows.
Before this season is over as we tape this, we might hear a chan of Nice nice
at the carrier, Don.

Dan Cummings: that word will always and forever mean
something entirely different to me. it was, it was nice. It was better than
nice.

Joey Wahler (Host): It sure sounds like it. Well,
Dan, as a man who spent nearly four decades in Syracuse telling stories as an
anchor on a nightly basis, I bet you've never had won this good. Right.

Dan Cummings: Amen, brother. You got it, Joey. Amen.
Happy holidays everybody.

Joey Wahler (Host): Absolutely. Same to you. And so
Dan, thanks so much for sharing your story, continued great health, enjoy
retirement as that continues. And really, thanks so much again for joining us
and letting us know all the good news.

Dan Cummings: Thanks Joey. Take me to Crouse.

Joey Wahler (Host): And for more information, please
visit Crouse.org/healthcare and Crouse.org/heartcare. Now, if you found this
podcast helpful, please share it on your social media, and thanks again for
listening to Crouse HealthCast, a podcast from Crouse Health, hoping your
health is good health. I'm Joey Wahler.