Joe McDermott, 69, had been active his entire life until a calcium-scoring test revealed that he had severe heart disease.
McDermott might not have undergone the test if not for the advice of longtime friends in his native Iowa who had just done so themselves.
“I felt fine, as healthy as ever,” said McDermott, of Bentonville. “My wife [Jeri] scheduled the test, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go.”
A calcium-scoring test uses computed tomography to look for the buildup of calcium in plaque on the walls of the arteries of the heart. A high amount of calcium is an indicator of heart disease, and McDermott had a very high score of 1,452. Ideally, scores should be below 100.
Next, McDermott performed a nuclear stress test, and although he felt fine, he “failed the test miserably,” he said.
Next up was cardiac catheterization, which measures how well the heart muscles and valves are working. Because McDermott’s father died from an abdominal aortic aneurysm at age 75, Dr. Robert Stuppy of Mercy Heart and Vascular ran extra dye in his abdomen and found a large aneurysm.
The aneurysm was surgically repaired on Nov. 4, and McDermott underwent a triple bypass on Dec. 12. He said he really appreciates his doctors and their staffs.
“Dr. Stuppy and Dr. [David] McCoy were fantastic,” McDermott said. “They really took the time to explain everything to me — I never felt rushed.”
By early January of this year, McDermott is “feeling great” and is doing cardiac rehabilitation three times a week at Mercy Wellness Clinic.
“Rehab is actually fun,” he said.
He said he is very grateful that he was screened because he never once felt ill.
“A vitamin pill is all I have ever taken,” he said. “I turkey hunt in Iowa in the spring and play golf three to four times a week — even this summer when it was 110 degrees outside, I was on the golf course and often hit 140 balls on the range afterward.”
McDermott urges everyone to undergo preventive testing and convinced his adult sons to do so.
“The calcium test was only $50 and offers a lot of results,” he said.
Mercy’s Heart and Vascular Center offers specialized, state-of-the-art, cardiac care. Mercy offers calcium cardiac tests year-round, but additional reduced-cost screenings are offered during February, which is American Heart Month.
More information is available by calling Mercy Heart and Vascular at (479) 878-1960.
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