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HEART DISEASE ▸
BEST FOOT FORWARD:
Patricia Garza continues to make
strides toward heart health at Folsom Fitness Center.
A mighty
Garza explains. Her doctor also told her that she needed help to
manage her heart disease.
As she and her husband drove home to Grand Prairie from
North Dallas that day, they passed Methodist Dallas Medical
Center with its familiar blue cross rising above the helipad for
the trauma center. Garza’s husband suggested she go there for
her cardiac care.
“We picked the right hospital,” Garza says. “They found the
major problems with my heart and saved my life.”
She had a heart catheterization followed by open heart
surgery on Aug. 22. John L. Jay, MD, and Jay Wright, MD,
independently practicing physicians on the Methodist Dallas
medical staff, provided care.
“I was really excited that the problem was finally found and
fixed,” Garza says.
Not taking a second chance for granted
“Patricia’s case shows that it’s important for women at any age to
be aware of their heart disease risk,” Dr. Jay says.
To help keep her heart disease under control, Garza turned
to Folsom Fitness Center at Methodist Dallas for cardiac
rehabilitation. She praises Fitness Center Manager Cathy
Spranger for the guidance she provided for her new lifestyle.
“Cathy gave me good advice and even talked with me while
I was still in my hospital room,” Garza says. “The attention they
gave me ranks 10 on a scale of 10.”
Garza’s fitness regimen includes walking, climbing, and
stationary bicycling, plus weight training.
“When I started, I couldn’t move my arms well or my back,”
she says. “After my first week, I was a different person! The
exercises aligned my body, and my arms got stronger through
the strengthening routines.”
With her swift and significant recovery, Garza is back to
activities with her husband and two teenage sons.
“I get in more activity, watch our diets, manage my stress, and
just lead a healthier life,” she says. “Thanks to what I learned
in cardiac rehab, we eat less red meat; look at food labels; and
watch fat, calories, and sodium.
“Everything is better now. I’m happy, with a lot of energy. I’m
even studying toward a new career.”
Put a little love in your heart at Heart to Heart on Saturday,
Feb. 18 (see page 5). To find a physician to help you manage your
heart disease, go to
www.MethodistHealthSystem.org/FindAPhysician
or call
214-947-0000
.
Texas law prohibits hospitals from practicing medicine. The physicians on the Methodist Health
System medical staff are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Methodist
Health System.
Fatigue
and weight gain were dragging Patricia Garza
down. She was tired of being tired.
“I was feeling exhausted, with no energy at all, and was really
gaining weight,” she says. “Over two years, there was no lasting
improvement. I couldn’t work and was forcing myself to try to
be active and happy, but I knew that things were not right.”
Then one week she experienced chest pain and pressure
daily and struggled to breathe. “My doctor said one artery was
about 95 percent blocked and I would need to go to a hospital,”
heart
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Methodist Health System
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Spring 2012