Trip Off, but Life Goes On After Bypass

Bob Wells had been looking forward to his two-week vacation all year.

He had it planned perfectly. First, he and his wife, Darlene, would fly to Acapulco from Los Angeles International Airport. From there, they would head to Panama.

Fortunately for Wells, they never boarded the plane. That was about the time the chest pains hit him, on Jan. 30.

Deciding the pains were serious enough to put the vacation on hold, but not serious enough to go to an emergency room in Los Angeles, the Wellses drove back to San Diego.

Rented a Car and Came Home

“I wasn’t in such pain where I thought we couldn’t drive back,” Wells said. “We toyed with the idea of going to a medical center there. But we got a rental car and came back.

Maybe, he said, “I could have taken the trip with no problems, but I would have had a massive heart attack sooner or later.”

Wells, 61, executive director of the Rancho Bernardo Chamber of Commerce, went to Palomar Memorial Hospital that afternoon. The next day, he received an angiogram, a procedure done under local anesthesia in which a small catheter is threaded to the main arteries of the heart. A liquid shot into the arteries allows any narrowing to show up on X-ray.

The films showed blockage in each of the three major arteries and in the branches, but otherwise a healthy heart. Two days later, Wells was scheduled for seven-way coronary bypass surgery.

“He knew he was having problems,” said cardiologist Roger Acheatel, who made the initial diagnosis and performed the angiogram. “He knew things were changing. That’s why he drove back here.”

Heart Is Stopped

Wells’ surgery consisted of removing a vein from his leg and using it and another artery to construct a bypass of the seven arteries. The heart was stopped during surgery, and doctors used blood previously donated by Wells.

Robert Reichman, the surgeon who performed the bypass, predicted a two- to three-month recovery period. Meanwhile, Wells will be sure to follow through with therapy and take aspirin every day.

“I feel very glad it’s over with,” he said. “I feel good, and I seem to be coming back better than they anticipate.”

Wells’ septuple bypass surgery is by no means a record, doctors say, but it is not a usual occurrence. Reichman said that blockage of four to five vessels is more common.

Both he and Acheatel said the fact that Wells was in good shape before the surgery has aided in his recovery.

For her part, Darlene Wells is relieved and happy.

“I’m glad we didn’t get on the plane,” she said. “I’m glad it’s all over and turned out as well as it did.”

As for the trip to Acapulco, she remains optimistic.

“We’re hoping to go,” she said.