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H. Thomas "Tom" and Carol Ostrander never would have predicted their medical journey would take them anywhere but in a northeasterly direction.
They are longtime Bonita Springs, Florida, residents, but hail from Connecticut. The couple, married 42 years, continues to maintain a home in East Haddam, Connecticut. And they, not surprisingly, were familiar with some of the world's most respected academic hospitals in New York and Boston.
But when they discovered Tom had a serious heart condition in 2011, their research, along with advice from doctors and friends, pointed them to Cleveland Clinic.
Tom maintains he had no symptoms. "It started with a chest cold," he said. He thought he had recovered, but when the congestion came back, Carol urged him to seek treatment.
"All of a sudden, the doctor examining me gets another doctor in the room and said, 'Your heart murmur's really acting up.'" Tom wasn't aware he had a heart murmur. He recalls being told he needed to see a cardiologist immediately.
"We live in a community with a lot of doctors, so we put our feelers out and got a name of a top cardiologist in Naples," Tom said. "He told me, 'This is serious. You not only have congestive heart failure, but you have a very large aortic aneurysm.'"
Tom, in fact, had a 6.7 centimeter aneurysm, which is unusual and carries a high risk of rupture.
"I remember him saying, 'You want to go somewhere that does hundreds of these procedures a year, not four. You're going to Cleveland Clinic.'"
While the Naples cardiologist, Ronald Levine, MD, was working on a referral to Cleveland Clinic, Carol recalled having met a woman a few weeks earlier who she thought might be helpful. Nancy Roselli — who was renting a condominium in their building — happened to be the mother of Eric Roselli, MD, chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery and a staff surgeon in the Cleveland Clinic Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Nancy was happy to make an introduction.
"Eric called me that night and we spoke for 45 minutes. He explained everything to me," Tom said. "He had me come in the next week." Tom had aortic valve repair surgery shortly thereafter.
"It was a good nine-hour surgery," Tom said. He recovered in the hospital for almost a week and flew home three days later.
Tom and his heart thrived for the next 13 years. Tom stayed active, walking as much as seven miles a day. And he developed a passion for selling homes in southwest Florida — a second career, with which Carol assists. The two had both enjoyed 30-year careers with AT&T in Connecticut.
"My ejection fraction (the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart’s main chamber with each heartbeat) was starting to get lower and lower," Tom shared. "And in discussions I had with Dr. Levine, he said, 'It's time to send all your records again out to Dr. Roselli and have him take a look.'"
A few months later, Tom returned to Cleveland Clinic for a Bio-Bentall procedure, an open heart surgery that replaced a diseased aortic root, ascending aorta and aortic valve using a biological valve.
"I was very active before both surgeries and knew recovery would require time and patience," Tom said. Although the second surgery was more challenging, he steadily regained his strength, resumed his walking routine and returned to work.
Tom continues to be seen at Cleveland Clinic by cardiologist Ben Alencherry, MD, in addition to the care he receives locally. "I remember Dr. Alencherry saying, 'The way you look right now, the way your surgery went and the way you recovered, your life expectancy is as normal as if you never had heart disease.'"
"They not only take care of the patient, they take care of the caregiver," Carol shared. "The service, communication and the whole process were just phenomenal."
The Ostranders' recently became members of the Pyramid Legacy Society, which honors donors who include Cleveland Clinic in their estate plans. The Ostranders' gift will support high risk cardiovascular research in honor of Dr. Roselli.
