When the Addison Fire Protection District proposed building another fire station on Route 53 several years ago, nearby resident Lynda Bolek recalls some of her neighbors opposed the project because they worried about disruptions from noisy sirens. Today Bolek considers it a benefit to live so close to these emergency responders – their prompt response helped save her husband’s life.
She and her husband, Alan, were watching T.V. when he suddenly slumped over in his chair. Paramedics, who arrived at their home within minutes of Lynda’s 911 call, determined Alan was in full cardiac arrest and used an automated external defibrillator to shock his heart into beating again. They also gave him medicine to increase his heart rate and transported him to Adventist GlenOaks Hospital’s emergency room, where he was placed on a ventilator before taken to the cardiac catheterization laboratory.
“Usually patients in full arrest end up with brain swelling because oxygen is not getting to the brain,” said Billie Sweeney, the hospital’s emergency medical services coordinator.
“But Mr. Bolek was only down for five minutes when the emergency response team got his heart beating again. If they didn’t respond so quickly, he wouldn’t have been able to walk out of our hospital.”
The cardiac cath lab’s medical staff diagnosed Bolek with extreme cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart that made it difficult for the electricity of the heart to function properly. Bolek also suffered several seizures in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Dr. Aziz Ahmed, an interventional cardiologist, performed an angiogram, which involves placing a small balloon into a blocked coronary artery and inflating it to open the vessel for improved blood flow. Dr. Stephen Laga, a cardiothoracic surgeon, treated Bolek with an automatic implantable cardiac defibrillator and a pacemaker.
It was an intense nine days in the hospital, but since returning home, 56-year-old Bolek has resumed his normal daily activities, which include returning to work and walking a mile every day with his wife and the family dog. For Lynda, her husband’s recovery is a testament to his medical caregivers.
“When Al was discharged, we walked back to the ICU to say goodbye to the nurses,” Lynda said. “They recognized me but were so shocked to see him up and walking in normal street clothes. The doctors and nurses had prepared me for the worst, but everything is back to normal. We’re so grateful to the Addison fire department and the doctors and nurses at GlenOaks for taking care of us.”