Early Detection and Fast Treatment Saved Ted Dahlke

At 50 years of age, Ted Dahlke is living proof that individuals who exercise, do not smoke, do not drink, and exercise can have a heart attack.

Making up for a busy summer, Ted, his wife, Carolyn, and his four children were camping in their driveway on June 7, 2005.  At 2 am, Ted woke up with pain across his chest and down his left bicep into his hand, and tightness in his throat. “The first thing I thought was, ‘I am having a heart attack,’ but dismissed it thinking I had strained a muscle lifting weights. I thought I would bother my wife if I woke her up,” says Ted. 

An hour later, Ted was on his way to work, still feeling chest pain.  “I told my co-workers that if I didn’t know better, I’d say I was having a heart attack,” says Ted, still convinced of a strained muscle.  He called his sister, Deb Dahlke-Joseph, RN, who strongly encouraged him to seek medical attention because of a family history of coronary artery disease. Ted drove himself to the Emergency Center at Lima Memorial Hospital.

Upon arrival at the Emergency Center, Dr. Sebastian Rueckert, LMHS Emergency Center Physician, enrolled Ted in a Chest Pain Center protocol for early and accurate detection of patients with chest pain.  He was admitted to the hospital, given nitroglycerin and scheduled for an emergency catheterization because his enzymes continued to rise. “When the heart muscle is damaged, it releases enzymes that can be detected in blood work,” according to interventional cardiologist and Director of the Chest Pain Center at Lima Memorial, Mehran Arabpour, DO, with the Heart Institute of Northwest Ohio. Ted was sent directly to the cath lab because, as the saying goes at Lima Memorial, “time is muscle.”

“Once our testing parameters indicated that Ted was at risk of a heart attack, immediate action was taken which detected a near 100 percent blockage in a main heart artery.  We performed a balloon angioplasty and stent placement and within an hour Mr. Dahlke returned to Coronary Care Unit free of blockages in his arteries.  He was discharged the next day without any significant restrictions and a healthy heart which sustained no damage as a result of his heart attack,” says Dr. Arabpour. “Ted is an example of how early detection and treatment can prevent a life long cardiac disability.”

Dr. Rueckert sends a warning to men: “If you have symptoms such as pain through the jaw, neck or arm, or if the pain is worse when you exert yourself and better when you rest, seek medical attention immediately.  Men do a great job of delaying treatment.”

Ted wraps up his story stating, “Everyone in the Emergency Room, CCU, and Cath Lab, and Drs. Rueckert and Arabpour treated me great. By the grace of God I am alive. I apologized to my wife - as bad as it would have been waking them when we were camping, there would be nothing worse than my family waking up to a dead husband and father.”

Side Bar

The Lima Memorial Health System Chest Pain Center guidelines lead to early and non-discriminatory detection for all patients coming to Lima Memorial with chest pain.  These guidelines allow our staff and physicians to detect heart attacks and intervene early.  “There is a golden hour in cardiology.  If a physician can work on a chest pain patient within one hour of symptoms, we increase survival and decrease cardiac disability in the long run.  We are proud of our efforts in early detection and fast response to chest pain.  In fact, Lima Memorial has surpassed national standards in early detection and response regarding the care of a heart attack patient,” says Dr. Arabpour.