“I’m alive today because of the care I received here,” Mr. Delmonaco says.
When I started, I was petrified,” says the former school administrator. “I was afraid to do anything. But I got a lot of support from the cardiac rehab staff. I also started going to the cardiac support group and got a lot of support from the members there. I became less afraid and more confident.”
Mr. Delmonaco, a longtime member of the hospital’s Board of Governors, continued with cardiac rehab years after his prescribed program ended because he appreciated the monitoring and support, exercise, and camaraderie.
But in 2009, he needed emergency spinal surgery and in the course of preadmission testing, his doctor suggested he undergo another stress test. Further tests later revealed he had blockages and would need elective angioplasty. Because of his previous heart attack, Mr. Delmonaco was considered high risk. His cardiologist, Michael Chen, MD, recommended Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, which performs open-heart surgery and is acclaimed for its comprehensive cardiac services.
Ajay Agarwala, MD, a clinical specialist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School who also serves as the medical director of the interventional cardiac cath lab at RWJ Rahway, inserted a stent in Mr. Delmonaco’s left anterior descending artery (LAD) and one in another artery a month later. It turned out the LAD, which provides much of the blood flow to the left ventricle, was 95 percent blocked, while the other was 75 percent blocked.
“Because the LAD is near the main artery and Mr. Delmonaco had a previous heart attack, he needed to be in a place that offers open-heart surgery and has the specialized equipment we might have needed in the event of a complex angioplasty,” Dr. Agarwala says.
Fortunately, Mr. Delmonaco’s blockages were easily opened. Thanks to his angioplasty, Mr. Delmonaco has more stamina and just feels better.
“I had been very tired and lazy, but I figured it was related to my back and neck problems,” he says. “It really was because of my heart.” He plans to join a health center and begin a regular exercise routine once he completes physical therapy for a neck problem.
“I’m alive today because of the care I received here,” Mr. Delmonaco says.