After chest tightness, bypass surgery and expert care brought this retired weatherman a sunny forecast.
Mike Nadolski, 68, was enjoying an active retirement back here in his home town after a 42-year career in the weather profession all across the country with the Navy and the National Weather Service. Golf, along with lawn-mowing, landscaping and snow-plowing for family and neighbors, kept him on the go. On July 6, 2020, checking on the lawn care needed at his mom’s neighbor’s house, he bent down to examine the grass. When he stood up, tightness in his chest caught his attention.
“It just didn’t seem right, so I told my mom I was going home,” Mike says. Back home, he talked with his neighbor, Christina Joherl, RN, an intensive care nurse at UH Lake West Medical Center, about his experience. The chest tightness had gone away soon after it occurred and Mike had no previous cardiac symptoms, but Christina thought he should get it checked out. So she took Mike to the Lake West Medical Center ER.
At the Emergency Department, his EKG and chest x-ray were normal. Bloodwork showed an elevated level of troponin, an indicator of heart attack, but well below what is typical for heart attack patients. When a second blood draw showed the number hadn’t changed, ER physician, Brent Keaner, DO, had Mike admitted to the Monitored Care Unit for further observation and evaluation. There, a third test showed the level of troponin was going up. So the next morning Mike discussed things with the cardiology staff and chose to move forward with a heart catheterization.
“I’m the kind of person who says ‘if there’s a problem, let’s find it and fix it’,” says Mike.
Cardiologist Paul Zellers, DO, performed Mike’s catheterization procedure and found three coronary artery blockages.
“When we find three-vessel disease or even two-vessel disease that involves an important vessel branch point, we like to offer our patients a Heart Team Approach. This approach is where the patient, the interventional cardiologist and the cardiothoracic surgeon meet to discuss what would be the best and most durable option for the patient,” explains Dr. Zellers. “For Mike that option was bypass. Open heart surgery is a major operation, but it’s also very routine for our incredibly experienced UH cardiothoracic surgical team.”
“It went from ‘this doesn’t feel right’ to ‘I have three blockages’ to ‘I need open-heart surgery, so let’s get this done and move on’,” Mike says.
Open-heart surgery
On July 10, University Hospitals cardiothoracic surgeon Marc Pelletier, MD, and his team completed Mike’s three-and-a-half-hour open-heart surgery at UH Lake West Medical Center. Coronary artery bypass grafting provided a new route for blood flow around the blockages in three arteries. Just two days later, Mike was walking the hospital hallway with a portable wireless monitor.
After his discharge on July 15, Lake Health Home Care nurses visited his home to take vitals and provide care. Four-and-a-half weeks later, at his follow-up appointment with Dr. Pelletier’s partner Cristian Baeza, MD, Mike was healing so well he was allowed to start driving and his lifting limits were raised from 10 to 30 pounds.
“Having the expertise and equipment to treat patients such as Mr. Nadolski urgently and close to home is a tremendous asset for the people of Lake County,” says Dr. Pelletier. “The affiliation of Lake West Medical Center with University Hospitals provides our patients with some of the best medical care they could receive from an experienced team of surgeons. And the expert and personal care that patients receive from the nursing and support staff at Lake West is second to none. Mr. Nadolski and his straight-forward recovery are a testament to that care.”
Cardiac rehab
For 24 weekly sessions from December 2020 to March 2021, Mike participated in cardiac rehab at the UH Brunner Sanden Deitrick Wellness Center in Mentor. He found the rehab more intense than his personal walking routine and beneficial to his recovery.
“Mike purchased a heart-rate watch and pulse ox for exercising at home on his treadmill and working in the yard,” says cardiac and pulmonary rehab facilitator Nicole Marcia, MEd. “He was so positive, willing and ready to move on with life!”
“The doctors were phenomenal and the nurses were great. I can’t express the excellent job that everyone did. I was surrounded by great support from all my caregivers and family,” he says. Today Mike continues to walk a minimum of 10,000 steps every day, on his treadmill, cutting grass, landscaping and golfing.
Meet the providers
Paul Zellers, DO, FACC
Specialty: cardiology
Office: Willoughby, 440-951-8360
Marc Pelletier, MD
Specialty: cardiothoracic surgery
Office: Willoughby, 440-918-6814
Cristian Baeza, MD
Specialty: cardiothoracic surgery
Office: Willoughby, 440-918-6814
Nicole Marcia, MEd
Exercise physiologist
Cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation
