EAMC Nurse Reflects on Heart Scan Leading to Life-Saving Surgery

An open conversation with a co-worker led to open-heart surgery for a seasoned nurse, and a simple calcium scoring scan was the golden ticket that connected the two events. For Cecil Hart, seeing healthcare from a different perspective was eye-opening, and life-saving. 

Each February, in recognition of heart month, East Alabama Health offers calcium scoring scans at half-price—$50 instead of $100—until all appointment slots are full. That discount, and encouragement from a co-worker, is what ultimately led Hart to schedule the routine outpatient test in February 2022.

A calcium scoring scan is a noninvasive scan that measures calcium build-up in a patient’s artery walls on a scale of zero to more than 1,000. Zero is a perfect score and scores above 400 are what capture the attention of medical professionals. The higher the scan score, the higher the chance of a future cardiac event, such as a heart attack.

“I have a strong family history of heart disease, and a colleague and I were discussing that along with the special offer on heart scans,” Hart said. “She told me that I should do it, and we kept talking about it, and again she said I should really look into it.”

After mulling over the conversation with his co-worker about his health risks and the promotion, Hart decided to take advantage of the deal and scheduled a scan. His results called for immediate action.

“The technician who did the scan asked me who my doctor was and when my next appointment was. I told her my next appointment was in October,” he stated. “She called my doctor because my score was 495, which was high, and told me ‘they’re not going to see you in October,’ and she got me an appointment with my doctor for that Friday.”

On his drive home from the scan, Hart’s doctor called and recommended that he speak with a cardiologist. So, instead of meeting with his doctor on Friday, Hart visited Pinnacle Cardiovascular Associates for a consultation with Brad Peden, M.D., a cardiologist.

“They set me up with an appointment two days after my scan, and I saw Dr. Peden and he did an EKG and echocardiogram, and just didn’t like how something looked in there,” Hart said. “So, after that, he referred me to Dr. (Dusty) Rhodes for a heart cath.”

Just a few weeks after his calcium scoring scan, Hart found himself being prepped for open-heart surgery. During the procedure, Hart’s surgeon, Barry Crowe, M.D., found three areas of severe blockage. Hart spent a day recovering in CVICU and a short stint on the Cardiac Stepdown Unit before being discharged home.

Hart, a nurse on the Progressive Care Unit, has worked at East Alabama Medical Center for 30 years. “It was a pretty humbling experience, having worked alongside these people for years and then actually be patient of theirs,” he recalled. Because of his long career, he has seen other employees grow within the organization as well, and they cared for him following his surgery. “People I’ve worked with who had been transporters were now respiratory therapists, and techs who were now nurses, and staff that I work with currently, they all kept me alive.

“I’m very grateful to the people in the CVOR and CVICU, as well as everybody who gave me the best chance possible for this to be successful.”

Being cared for in a familiar place by familiar people, some of whom he’d trained, was a comfort.

“We’re not really a big community, so to have a hospital close to home, to know the people that were taking care of me, and not having to drive a long way to go to rehab or have the surgery done, made it easier for my family to check on me. And that made it a great experience,” Hart said.

During Hart’s 12-week cardiac rehab program, he exercised to strengthen his heart, was educated on ways to keep his heart healthy and learned how to speed up the recovery process.

“It was a great program,” Hart remembers. “There were a couple of days where I got my heart rate a little too high and they made me slow down, but that was only because I was gung-ho about getting through this and getting back to normal.”

Now fully recovered and back working, Hart says he uses his experience when treating his patients.

“It was a very sobering experience, and it has helped me relate to my patients in a more understanding way,” Hart said. “When you’re the person in the bed, and not someone working around it, you gain a whole different perspective.

“I’m just so grateful for everybody and for what they do every day. It really makes a difference.”

East Alabama Health offers calcium scoring scans at a discounted price of $50 during the month of February in recognition of American Heart Month. Discounted scan appointments are limited by availability. Community members looking to schedule a calcium scoring scan may do so online by visiting providers.eastalabamahealth.org and searching for "calcium scoring" or by calling 334-364-3100.

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About East Alabama Health

East Alabama Health encompasses East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, EAMC-Lanier in Valley, the Spencer Cancer Center in Opelika, the Auburn Medical Pavilion and a host of other key medical clinic and practices that help provide a continuum of care to patients throughout an 11-county area. EAMC is a 314-bed regional referral hospital, while EAMC-Lanier provides inpatient services as well as a nursing home, an acute rehab unit and an ambulatory surgery center. East Alabama Health employs about 3,500 people and is the second largest employer in the region, trailing only Auburn University. For more information, visit www.eastalabamahealth.org.