At 56 years old, Anil felt physically strong and mentally clear-headed and calm, confirmed when his annual check-up showed he was in good health and managing his Type 2 Diabetes well with medicine. An active individual, Anil spent lots of time out on the golf course and practicing Sahaja yoga and meditation so he wasn’t surprised when his doctor found nothing of concern. That was why it was so shocking when, just a few days later, everything changed.
It was April 17, 2022 and Anil had just returned from a short vacation in Eastern Ontario with his wife when he started to feel nauseous. As the afternoon went on he got progressively more uncomfortable, sweating profusely with an increasingly intense headache and a growing pain in his left arm. He went upstairs to lie down and a few hours later his wife heard a noise. By the time she found him, he had gotten up from the bathroom floor he had collapsed on and managed to make his way to a phone.
“It was the first time I ever called 911 in my life,” Anil said. As a resident of Oakville, the paramedics took Anil to Trillium Health Partners’ Mississauga Hospital, home to Peel’s renowned regional Cardiac Health program.
As soon as he arrived Anil remembers a tall doctor approaching him saying, “Anil, we will take care of you, don’t worry.” Anil adds, “In that moment those were very important words, they had such an impact on me.” In the Cath Lab the doctor performed an angiogram to obtain diagnostic information about Anil’s heart and its vessels by inserting a long, thin flexible tube called a catheter through his groin and guided up to his heart. Once in position, a dye is injected and X-ray pictures are taken. The special dye allows the X-rays to capture pictures of your coronary arteries and highlights where any blockages or narrowed spots may be.
The next morning, Anil was in the ICU where he told cardiac surgeons Dr. Ting Zhang and Dr. Steve Singh that he felt better and was okay to go home. They were sympathetic and kind, gently explaining that he would not be able to go home quite yet. They recommended a coronary bypass, a procedure removing blood vessels from another part of the body (in Anil’s case, his arm) to create a new route for the heart’s blood supply to bypass blockages in the coronary arteries. It was comforting to hear Dr. Zhang’s straightforward way of explaining the procedure, walking him through his charts and discussing the reason for the surgeons’ recommendation.
“Originally she apologized for being a bit late to see me since she had been in a surgery and I was shocked by her passion. You are helping people and you’re saying sorry to me?” Anil recalls of his first conversation with Dr. Zhang, still immensely shocked at the humility she showed. “You have to have such a beautiful heart to be a doctor or a nurse.”
Ten days later on April 27, Anil came back to Mississauga Hospital for his quadruple bypass and was greeted by Dr. Singh, who Anil describes as “very calm, nice and polite.” Dr. Singh assured Anil that his heart was strong and the procedure would be simple.
Anil was on the operating table for about five hours and spent two days in the ICU where an extremely professional and friendly nurse tended to him.
“Man, he was excellent; I wish I could thank him personally. I was so overwhelmed by the excellent service,” says Anil. After two days in the ICU, Anil was moved to rehab for another two days before going home to recover with the help of a nurse who visited once daily. Three months later, he was strong enough to start driving.
Almost one year later and Anil is feeling good, attending cardiac rehabilitation in Oakville and slowly going back to the things he loves, like golf and attending classical Indian concerts.
Of the staff he encountered throughout his health care journey at Trillium Health Partners, Anil says this, “Everyone is doing their work with tremendous passion. It’s a beautiful thing. I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Inspired by Anil’s story? Consider giving today.