Tom, aka "Old Hank" tteeters@neo.rr.com Age 56 Purple Raider Country in northeast Ohio Married 34 years to Diana 2 married daughters - Sarah Jane, age 29 and Tierney Lynn, age 32 One granddaughter - Eryn, age 6 2 grandsons - Tyler, age 3 and Adam, age 5 2 dogs - Zach and "Dog" 4 cats - Hank, BoBo, Brownie Sue and Teekey

My Family

My name is Tom and I have been married to Diana for almost 34 years. We have lived in northeastern Ohio all our lives. Our two daughters, their husbands and our three grandchildren live within 5 miles of us.
     I worked as a salesman for a large communications company for 25 years and my wife is a Registered Nurse who has worked at our community hospital for 34 years. I stopped working and went on Disability in January of 1996. My wife retired to be home with me in June of 1999. She still works full-time taking care of me and works a couple of days a month at the hospital.
     We live in the middle of 5 acres of woods with Zach, a 120 pound yellow Lab and Dog, a stray who showed up 8 years ago and stayed. We have 4 spoiled cats.

My CHF

I became an insulin dependent diabetic 35 years ago. On June 8, 1985, I had my first heart attack. In July of 1985 I had a quadruple bypass at the Cleveland Clinic. I did well after the surgery until 1995, when I had several TIAs (stroke warnings) and had to have my carotid artery cleaned out. I have also had several other conditions develop. I had ITP, a disease where the platelets in your blood are destroyed, developed panic attacks, and have the neuropathies that go along with my diabetes.
     I had two more heart attacks in the fall of 1998. A heart cath at that time showed my EF to be 15%. I ended up in CHF a week later, my first episode. My local cardiologist told me he did not think there were any coronary arteries left that could be bypassed again but sent me back to the Cleveland Clinic for an evaluation. They agreed that no repeat bypass was possible and did a PET scan showing that 17% of my left ventricle was scar tissue and 65% was hibernating and not working because of ischemic heart disease. I was not a candidate for any of the new procedures to revascularize my heart due to my dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy.
     They suggested I be evaluated for a heart transplant. I went through two days of testing to make sure the rest of my body was okay. They won't put a new heart in a "bad body." I passed all the tests, even with being a diabetic for 35 years. The metabolic stress test in December of 1998 showed my Vo2Max to be 20.4%. They put you on the active list when your Vo2Max is below 15%. In June of 1999, my Vo2Max was 19.3% and down to 18.7% in December of 1999. I am a patient in the CHF Department at the Cleveland Clinic. I decided I needed to try to take control of my illness. My wife did research to develop a plan of care okayed by my physicians. My last echo in December of 1999 showed much improvement over those done in September of 1998, but the clinic goes by the Vo2Max result.

My Hobbies

We see 3 beautiful grandchildren often and they are the love of our lives. My wife and I have collected antiques for 34 years, and much of our time is spent looking through antique shows and antique malls. We had a lovely cottage and a pontoon boat on a beautiful lake 40 miles from our home, but it was too much for me to care for, so we recently sold it. We enjoy traveling when I feel good. I love my pets and my yellow Lab is very possessive of me. I've become quite attached to the Internet lately and love to explore new sport sites. My wife and I are Cleveland Indian and Cleveland Browns fans.
     I am a US Navy Veteran and enjoy belonging to the Vietnam Veterans, VFW and the American Legion. I belong to the Masonic Lodge, the Scottish Rite and the Tadmor Temple Shrine Club. The Civil War is interesting to me and I read many books on the subject. We like to visit the different battlefields and live only a few hours from many of them.

My Plan of Care

1. Faith in God
2. Family time
3. Very low sodium diet with only 10-15% fat
4. Phase 3 cardiac rehab program
5. Pets!

My Meds

We enjoy all the information found on Jon's Place and has been faithful followers for over a year. Thank you to Jon for all the information!

Tom -- February 9, 2000

All information on this site is opinion only. All concepts, explanations, trials, and studies have been re-written in plain English and may contain errors. No one here is a doctor. No information on this page should be used by any person to affect their medical, legal, educational, social, or psychological treatment in any way. This web site and all its pages copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Jon C.