The Power of Prayer and Fast Action!

I would like to thank this great community of men for their warmth, prayers for my health, phone calls and for the helping hands while I have been recovering from my emergency heart surgery.  Wow, you all are an inspiration!  This is truly a great fellowship and a blessing.

You may have seen the email from John Muckerman on August 21st and more recently from Derrick Kassenbaum that went out to all FATC members stating that I was recovering from an Aortic Dissection surgery, heart surgery, specifically a type of widow maker heart event. This was an ascending aortic dissection. It started when I had severe chest pain on August 21st at about 5:45 am.  I had fallen over while taking a shower and blacked out briefly, then got up and had intense chest pain that would not stop that morning.

My wife, Alicia, told me and Sophia (daughter) to get dressed and get in the car because we were going to St. Luke’s Hospital.  I was of course ‘man’ing it’ and said let’s go to urgent care because I have to go to work soon, but she insisted on St. Luke’s. She had the wisdom to get me in the car and drive quickly to St Luke’s which is a top heart hospital.  Once we arrived what Alicia thought was the entrance to the ER was actually the outpatient pick up area, so I walked the length of the corridor to get to the emergency department.  I was taken back to the ER and waited and asked Alicia, since it was going to take some time, to take Sophia to school, which she did.  It took about 45 minutes for her to go and then get back, in that time I had significantly declined, and Alicia could see it.  Alicia started to go to multiple nurses and tell them that something was wrong, 3 of the nurses ignored her but then one of the head nurses came over and asked if she could help and Alicia said they needed to see me now. This led the emergency room team to diagnose the issue and get me to immediate, emergency open heart surgery quickly after the diagnosis of an aortic dissection.

The Chairman of Heart & Vascular Surgery said I did not have much time to live and needed surgery immediately.  With aortic dissections, once the aorta tear is large enough there is not much they can do to save your life, but luckily the doctors were about to resolve the issue by replacing my aortic valve with a bovine valve and repairing my aorta with a mesh synthetic graft.   They used the Bentall procedure. The great doctors at St Luke’s and specifically Dr. Ronald Leidenfrost, MD, FACS and his team were able to fix me over the course of about 16 hours in total.  This was a big surgery that took about 10 hours the first day and about 5-6 hours the second day from what I was told.  At times, Dr. Leidenfrost met with Alicia and said to her to keep praying because it was working. My wife was praying without ceasing for the surgeons to have correct actions and for me to stay alive.  She also recruited people from five other states to pray for me as well. I saw the email (when I was in recovery) from John M. asking the FATC members to pray for me as well. Thank you all for your prayers – they worked and are powerful.

Many, many actions had to go right that morning for me to be here today and write this message.

I am at home now recovering and getting healthier every day. I spent 6 days on a ventilator in the ICU with a collapsed lung after the surgery and an additional 6 days in the St. Luke’s Step Down unit recovering and learning from the physical therapists how to walk again. The doctors and nurses were amazing while I gained my strength back. In fact I met a male nurse named Mark who is a fly fisher at Bennet Springs and I told him all about FATC and we swapped some stories and photos. He was crucial in my recovery in ICU and Step Down unit. We started our conversation when he saw the Bible I received at the Alter Fly Fishing retreat – “Casting for The Way.”  This was a turning point for my recovery to get back home from the hospital.

The total recovery time for this procedure is approximately three months from the surgery with a lot of PT and doctor’s visits.  I expect to be back on our home waters fishing in about four months with the group again. I am on doctor’s orders not to do much, like lift over 10 pounds, push a lawn mower, exercise or go outside if its 80 degrees or higher until they clear me to do so in a few weeks.  I am feeling better every day and all reports state I am recovering properly from surgery.

Thank you all for your kindness, phone calls, stopping by and especially for the FATC brothers that have been coming by to cut and trim the front yard!  I cannot say enough as to how much this support means to me and my family.

My wife is inundated with all the chores of the house, kids, dogs and was insisting she would cut the grass too, so thank you for taking that off her plate!  This kindness is greatly appreciated.

When I am back in action, I plan to give back to you all and continue to be an active member in our great FATC community.   God bless you all!

Scott Dougherty

Here are more details on the signs of Heart Attack and Aortic Dissection warning signs from Cleveland Clinic which is affiliated with St Luke’s Hospital.

I urge you to read and take action immediately if you have any of these signs – it may save your life.

If you have persistent chest pain take is serious – do not ‘man it’ and think it will go away – go to St Lukes or a hospital, not urgent care and insist on imaging (chest x-ray or another) to be taken. This could be life-threatening emergency as it was in my case (there were no warning signs).

Aortic Dissection: Symptoms & Treatment  (Cleveland Clinic) – Each year, 5 to 30 people per 1 million have an aortic dissection. Mainly men.

Common aortic dissection symptoms and Heart attack symptoms you may experience include:

• Sudden severe, sharp pain in your chest or upper back. This may be a tearing, stabbing or ripping feeling.  (I had this)
• Severe pain in your belly.
• Shortness of breath (dyspnea). (I had this)
• Fainting or dizziness.  (I had this)
• Low blood pressure.
• Diastolic heart murmur or muffled heart sounds.
• Rapid weak pulse.
• Heavy sweating.
• Confusion.
• Loss of vision.
• Stroke symptoms, including weakness or paralysis on one side of your body or trouble talking.

If you have symptoms, severe chest pain or symptoms of a stroke, call 911 or your local emergency services number, or seek emergency care.