For author John Lowe, it was as if he were writing one of his novels, but now the story was real, and he was the main character.
John can remember exactly what he was doing the moment he realized something was wrong. Late one night, while watching an old Cary Grant movie, he picked up the TV remote to get more information on the movie, as he had done so many times before. Suddenly, he could not remember how to operate the remote.
“I was worried that I might be having a mini stroke,” John says.
Without hesitation, John reached out to his primary care doctor at Englewood Health, Dr. Disha Patel.
“She’s so thorough. She’s phenomenal. She told me, ‘We’re going to do everything right here.’”
John’s real-life story unfolded quickly after that. Dr. Patel referred him to cardiologist Dr. Andrew Weissman, who ordered some tests. A CT scan showed that John had a massive iliac artery aneurysm in his left leg. Next, he was referred to Chief of Vascular Surgery at Englewood Health, Dr. Thomas Bernik.
“Dr. Bernik didn’t mince words,” John says. “He told me this thing had a very high risk of rupturing.”
John was immediately scheduled for aorta iliac bypass surgery and a resection of the aneurysm.
“Dr. Bernik and his staff make you feel comfortable right away. Dr. Bernik has a way about him. The way he spoke to me, I trusted him immediately and had no second thoughts about him being my doctor.”
According to John, his surgery “went perfectly.”
John’s story has a great ending. He’s back to living his life, still writing books, and doing everything his doctors promised he’d be able to do.
“They saved my life. I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for each of my doctors and the team at Englewood Health,” John says.