Dori Chiang
After playing 18 holes of golf, Dori Chiang came home to have lunch with her husband. “I actually played a really good game, and as usual, I carried my golf bag for all 18 holes” says Chiang. The retired CPA had just returned home from a 3–month trailer trip to Alaska a few days before, where she and her husband hiked glaciers and enjoyed the sights. “I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my throat–almost like choking–and felt light headed.” When she got up, she had a little black-out and told her husband, “Bill, I can’t see.”
Chiang lives only a few minutes from Los Robles Hospital–so, at the insistence of her husband, he put her in the car and got her to the hospital within minutes. “I knew that if I didn’t force her to go to the hospital that she would brush it off,” says Bill, Dori’s husband. “But I know my wife–she’s the healthiest person I know. Something was very wrong.” When she arrived at the hospital, her blood pressure was 80/40. A CT scan showed that she had an aortic dissection.
An aortic dissection occurs when the inner layer of the aorta, the large blood vessel branching off the heart, tears. Blood rushes through the tear, causing the inner and middle layers of the aorta to separate (or dissect). Chiang had a type A dissection, which is the most dangerous type as it is located near the heart — the mortality rate is about 20%, and if left untreated, 50% die within 48 hours. “I am so lucky that it happened at home and that Bill was there to help me,” says Chiang. “If I was home alone, I would have likely gone to lay down thinking that whatever it was would pass. I had no indication of any heart problems before that moment.”
“In addition to the torn aorta, her aortic valve was weakened,” says cardiac surgeon Dr. Gregory Fontana. “We replaced the area of the ascending aorta that was torn with a mesh Dacron graft and repaired her valves. Over time, Dori’s own tissue will grow over the mesh. She went home after 3 days.”
Chiang considers herself healthy — she eats well, hikes regularly and plays golf. The aortic dissection really came out of left field. “Women need to be informed about their bodies,” says Chiang. “Don’t be afraid to err on the side of caution. If you suspect something is not right, don’t brush it off.”
Today, Chiang is doing great, less than 4 months post-surgery, she’s playing golf again and planning her next big trip. “Next week we’ll be skiing in Colorado, I was told to take the bunny slopes,” she says with a laugh. “But I am confident that I’ll soon be skiing down the steeper slopes. The care I received at Los Robles from the moment I walked into the Emergency Department to the 4-hour open heart surgery performed by Dr. Fontana, to recovery at Cardiac Rehab — I could not have asked for better care.”