BRYAN HEART
Side by side for the long
D
etermined to lose weight and lower his blood pressure, Rick Jackson, MD, started running in 1976. And after two heart surgeries, the Pawnee City family physician is still running, thanks in no small part to his cardiothoracic surgeon, Robert Oakes, MD, who also is an
avid runner. Both doctors love running. Competitive running. Marathons. They run for the challenge and to improve their stamina so they’re able to perform at the top of their game for their patients — patients in Dr. Jackson’s busy practice in a small southeastern Nebraska community and patients in Dr. Oakes’ cardiothoracic surgical practice at Bryan Heart in Lincoln. When the two physicians met in 2011 at Bryan Heart’s Fall Cardiology Symposium, little did they realize their roles would be as surgeon/patient in less than two years. “When I read an article about Dr. Oakes and saw him on television explaining how the focus, planning and endurance required for his competitive running benefits his patients, I knew he would understand my passion for running,” Dr. Jackson recalls. “And later when I went to him for my surgical consultation, I definitely had an instant bond with him.”
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Winter 2014
“We did connect quickly because of our shared interest in running and being athletic,” Dr. Oakes agrees. “When patients say they want to be able to run a race by a certain date or to get back to running in general, I never discourage their resolve but rather encourage them to get back to physical activities that make them feel good and enable them to meet their health goals.”
Life-saving aortic valve surgery Dr. Jackson has been referring cardiac patients to Bryan Heart for many years and has been a long-time patient himself. In 1983, it was discovered he had a congenital heart problem — his aortic valve had two leaflets (bicuspid) instead of the typical three. A new technology at the time, UltraFast CT (now known as Coronary Calcium Screening CT Scan), unveiled a thoracic aortic aneurysm, for which Dr. Jackson underwent surgery in 2001. That bulge in the wall of the vessel was removed and replaced with a Dacron graft, but the bicuspid valve was not removed because it was functioning well. Bryan Heart cardiologist Robin Hibbard, MD, continued to monitor Dr. Jackson’s condition through the next 10 years and in 2011 referred him to Bryan Heart’s cardiothoracic surgeons. “I started having some mild reduced exercise tolerance in 2011, and heart catheterization, transesophageal echocardiogram and VO2Max stress tests revealed that my valve was beginning to narrow but had not reached the severe stage,” says Dr. Jackson. “With aortic stenosis the heart compensates and