Patient Stories

At 42, he was not prepared for a heart attack… but we were

A heart attack at age 42? Mark Krzeminski never saw it coming. He has always been fit, active and athletic. He has no family history of heart disease and did not have any of the common risk factors. He has a wonderful family with two boys, ages 10 and 11, and a successful career.

“I’ve been an athlete my whole life,” Mr. Krzeminski said. “I played baseball as a college student at FIU. Now, I golf and play baseball and hockey with my two boys.” 

In fact, Mr. Krzeminski had been golfing during the afternoon on the day he suffered his heart attack. “When I was back at home, I told my wife that something didn’t feel quite right,” he said. “Then, I passed out and fell to the floor. I remember my wife trying to wake me and her calling out to our son, who was nine at that time, to call 911.”

When the paramedics arrived moments later, Mr. Krzeminski had regained consciousness and reported that his tongue and hand were numb. At first, the paramedics thought Mr. Krzeminski might be suffering from heat exhaustion or dehydration. But, as they ran more tests, Mr. Krzeminski’s EKG indicated that he was, in fact, having a heart attack.

“Initially, the plan was to take me to another hospital,” he explained. “When they discovered I was having a heart attack, they called out to my wife as they pulled away that they were rushing me to the Heart Attack Unit at Baptist Hospital.”

Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute interventional cardiologist, Dr. Ramon Lloret, and the heart attack team were waiting for him at Baptist’s Emergency Center.

“Dr. Lloret grabbed my arm and explained what was happening and the procedure he would be performing as we made a mad dash to the procedure room,” Mr. Krzeminski said. “It was all a blur and everyone was moving so quickly. By this point, it felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I was even having trouble breathing.”

Dr. Lloret performed an angioplasty to open Mr. Krzeminski’s blocked heart artery and restore blood flow to his heart. During the angioplasty, a long, narrow catheter was inserted into an artery in Mr. Krzeminski’s groin and guided up the blood vessel to the arteries surrounding his heart. Dr. Lloret viewed digital pictures as he moved the catheter through the heart’s vessels, located the blocked artery, and then opened it with a tiny balloon to restore the blood flow.

“I was awake and he was talking to me during the whole procedure,” Mr. Krzeminski said. “As he expanded the artery, he told me that I should be feeling some relief and that I should be able to breathe easier. He was right. Everything changed at that moment.”

“All the doctors and nurses at Baptist were so wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

Mr. Krzeminski received a second chance at life thanks to the quick reaction of the Heart Attack Unit at Baptist Hospital. This commitment to care is provided by emergency room physicians, interventional cardiologists, heart surgeons and nurses who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for our patients, like Mr. Krzeminski, who have so much to live for. 

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