Marlin Fick’s father was 59 years old when he died of a heart attack. Fick’s older brother went in for a routine checkup at age 59 and ended up having quintuple bypass surgery.
Fick, a maintenance mechanic at Good Samaritan Society – National Campus, is also a farmer. He doesn’t smoke, looks very fit and regularly gets in about 15,000 steps a day between farming and his job at the company’s national headquarters.
Fick was well aware that genetics can play a significant role in heart health, however, and nobody needed to remind him that he had recently turned 59. It was why it was time, even though he had no obvious symptoms, to pursue a preventive heart and vascular screening.
More than 15 years earlier, his calcium score – that is, the heart screen test that measures coronary artery calcification – was 80. That score meant there was mild blockage, but no cause for alarm.
Last year he took advantage of a screening offered at the Good Samaritan Society campus. This time his score was more than 800.
“That got the red flags going,” Fick said.
He took stress tests and scheduled an angiogram with Sanford Health cardiologist Tom Stys, M.D., who told him after this initial procedure that angioplasty and stent placement were not going to be enough to clear his arteries.
Bypass surgery
The next step was an appointment with Sanford Health’s Keung Ung, M.D., a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. Dr. Ung informed him that he was going to need quadruple bypass surgery.
“I had no symptoms, no shortness of breath, nothing,” Fick said. “When I realized I needed the bypass I kind of teased him. I said, ‘Well, I feel totally fine. Can we wait until this fall after the harvest?’”
Dr. Ung had a better idea.
“How about Monday morning?”
The procedure actually took place the following Wednesday, but Fick understood clearly that Dr. Ung was telling him there was a level of urgency here. It was time to get serious.
“He had no symptoms, he was walking multiple flights of stairs no problem, doing what he wants to do,” Dr. Ung said. “It’s just by his diligence of continuing to get the heart screens and finding abnormalities – and by following up on those abnormalities – that he was able to protect his heart and his overall health.”
A national problem
Consider the numbers nationwide. In the United States:
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups.
- One person dies every 33 seconds from cardiovascular disease.
- In 2022 (the latest year confirmed stats are available), 702,880 people died from heart disease. That’s the equivalent of 1 in every 5 deaths.
Fick’s narrowed arteries came with their own daunting numbers, ranging from 80% to 95% blockage. The fact that he had no way of knowing his arteries were struggling served as a reminder of the importance of keeping up to speed on screening. Sometimes what you don’t know can hurt you.
“Dr. Ung said if I hadn’t done anything I probably wouldn’t be here in two or three years,” Fick said. “I tell everybody now – go get a heart check. Get tested. It will be the best $50 you ever spent.”
That initial conversation prior to bypass surgery between Fick and Dr. Ung also included some good news. Though his arteries were clogged, the rest of him was in pretty good shape. He didn’t smoke, he didn’t have obesity, and he was not yet at an age that might complicate recovery.
Getting back to full speed
Fick’s surgery was “routine” in that it had no complications, and he recovered completely. Nevertheless, it was an extensive procedure that included a full sternotomy. That is, Fick’s chest was split open and his heart was connected to a heart-lung machine while Dr. Ung performed the surgery.
“It is a lot of hard work for the patient,” Dr. Ung said. “Most patients suffer, unfortunately, a lot of pain. But it’s pain that is not going to be harmful to the body. It is the pain of recovery versus the pain of suffering from the disease.”
Post-surgery, the guy who works two jobs and takes 15,000 steps a day needed to slow down. After five days in the hospital, he went home and tried his best to do that.
“It was April, the time when you’re going to start getting busy in the field,” Fick said. “It was kind of driving me crazy when I’d be standing there looking out the window of the house and watching neighbors drive by to go plant. So that gets you a little irritated, you know? But you have to learn to listen to your doctor and take it easy and work your way back up.”
Two months later, he was shoveling corn. His friends tell him he looks great and can’t believe he had major heart surgery less than a year ago. He has definitely “worked his way back up.”
Visit a heart screening location
The heart screening that played a role in saving Fick’s life includes a comprehensive series of painless tests and checks. They may include:
- Cardiac calcium scoring
- Electrocardiogram (EKG)
- Body mass index (BMI) measurement
- Non-fasting cholesterol test
- Blood pressure reading
- Framingham Risk Score (an estimate of your risk for heart disease in the next 10 years)
There is no cure for heart disease but there are effective ways to minimize its impact. Continue to see your cardiologist. Exercise. Eat right. Keep paying attention to your heart.
“Whether it’s through stents or bypasses, all we can do is turn back the clock,” Dr. Ung said. “How quickly that clock keeps ticking forward depends on what we do with our lives in regard to activities, lifestyle changes and our medications.”
Sanford Health offers heart screenings throughout South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.
Discounts may be available if you schedule a heart and vascular screening together.
Schedule a heart screening by finding a location near you or discuss if one is right for you with your primary care provider over My Sanford Chart.
Learn more
- Heart & vascular screenings: What’s the difference?
- Heart screening catches hidden health risk
- Genetics helps woman find the key to her future heart health
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Posted In Healthy Living, Heart, Vascular
