{"id":179386,"date":"2021-11-18T14:50:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T19:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=179386"},"modified":"2021-11-18T18:26:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T23:26:10","slug":"thanksgiving-for-open-heart-surgery-just-in-time-for-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/11\/thanksgiving-for-open-heart-surgery-just-in-time-for-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanks(giving) for Open-Heart Surgery Just in Time for Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucy Tine, 74, of Wethersfield is extra thankful this Thanksgiving season.<\/p>\n

The holiday will mark just over one month since her successful open-heart surgery at UConn John Dempsey Hospital, restoring proper blood flow to her heart from several dangerously clogged arteries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am gushing with thankfulness,\u201d says Tine. \u201cIt couldn\u2019t be better timing. While I missed out on enjoying my favorite Halloween holiday this year, I am now all set for Thanksgiving, and even Christmas, with my family, thanks to UConn Health, my doctor, and his nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says: \u201cThey are miracle workers. My heart feels 20 years younger!\u201d<\/p>\n

On Oct. 19 at UConn Health, Tine had open-heart, coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) performed by the new chief of cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Chittoor Bhaskar Sai Sudhakar, and his team. A cardiac stress test and diagnostic angiogram helped reveal Tine’s severely blocked arteries, putting her at high risk of a fatal heart attack, with open-heart surgery being her best option for survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought this would happen to me. I have always been so healthy,\u201d says Tine, who loves to dance. \u201cI am a young 74, very active and athletic.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Tine reports she does have a strong family history of heart disease on her father\u2019s side, with several relatives needing similar surgical procedures to replace their heart arteries.<\/p>\n

\"\"
New chief of cardiothoracic surgery for UConn Health, Dr. Chittoor Bhaskar Sai Sudhakar, operating recently at UConn John Dempsey Hospital with David van Neil, PA (UConn Health photo).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently, Tine first started to notice something just wasn\u2019t the same with her body. For example, while walking upstairs to her class to pursue her third college degree, she started to feel something odd and different in both her neck and chest causing her to stop and take a break. Also, while dancing with her boyfriend, she started to suddenly feel the same odd feeling again. Then she knew she had to call her primary care doctor to follow up.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I struggled with my cardiac stress test, I knew it wasn\u2019t going to be good news,\u201d says Tine. \u201cI was floored when I learned I had severe blockages and needed open-heart surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after her heart surgery and six-day stay at UConn John Dempsey Hospital, she is a very grateful patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a very happy camper. I have had a great recovery \u2013 and I had no pain\u2014even with open-heart surgery cracking open my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cNow my surgery and my recovery is over and done with \u2013 and I feel wonderful! I now have a lot of plans to look forward to this holiday season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Sai Sudhakar saved my life by repairing my heart,\u201d says Tine. \u201cIf he didn\u2019t repair my heart I probably would have had a deadly heart attack and not be here for Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cHe\u2019s an excellent doctor. God gave Dr. Sai Sudhakar the hands to work on my heart. I would recommend him to the world. On a scale of 1 to 10 I give UConn Health a 10. Plus, his APRN Dorota Pawlak is the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her message to others this holiday season is, even if you think you are totally healthy, always listen to your body.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone thinks they may be having an issue with their body or especially their heart please make sure you go to see you doctor,\u201d says Tine. \u201cI thank Dr. Sai Sudhakar and God for my new and improved heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tine adds, \u201cI am so happy to be here for the holidays but this Thanksgiving I am not cooking. We are going out to eat!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lucy Tine never thought she’d need heart surgery, until she began feeling strange while doing everyday activities <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":179431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1969,1868,2235,179,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-179386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiology","category-meds","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-health","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 07:25:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179386"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179437,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179386\/revisions\/179437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/179431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179386"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=179386"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=179386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}