Odie and Karen Lawhun Share Experiences with Open Hearts and Open-Heart Surgeries

Shared experiences are a cornerstone of any relationship, but Odie and Karen Lawhun recently took it to another level. They went beyond “opening their hearts” as a romantic gesture and had their hearts opened literally in near back-to-back surgical procedures.

It started with a calcium scoring test. Odie’s primary care provider, CNP Brandon Grant, recommended it because Odie had an extensive family history of heart issues and was experiencing a burning sensation across his upper chest.

Calcium scoring tests measure the amount of calcium in your heart arteries, which can alert patients to health problems they might otherwise miss. The test can be competed in as little as ten to 15 minutes. Typically, a score of less than 100 is considered to be ideal, and scores higher than 400 suggest a high risk of a cardiac event.

Odie’s score was almost 800.

Odie scheduled an appointment with Dr. Jay Hamze, an interventional cardiologist. In the meantime, however, he developed a new symptom.

“I was playing golf and had some spasms in my left side,” he said. That lead to a visit to the Emergency Room, followed by an MRI that revealed he was suffering from mini-strokes.

In late October, Odie had open-heart surgery. Today, he’s feeling better – but for his wife, that’s where her story begins.

“After watching him go through all that, knowing his family history, and knowing my mom died of a massive heart attack… I was like, ‘I’d just kind of feel better if I knew where I was at,’” Karen Lawhun explained. So, despite having no symptoms or issues of her own, she decided to have the same calcium test as her husband.

And as it turned out, even though Odie’s score was nearly 8-times the ideal result, Karen’s was far worse. “It was 2698,” she said. “I was like, ‘what did you say?’ I was just flabbergasted.”

Karen recently underwent her own procedure. While the couple is still recovering and bouncing back, they are far enough down the road to know this much: calcium scoring tests changed their lives.

“I think people don’t understand how simple this test is,” Odie said. “I think when I took mine, it was 15 minutes. I walked in to the facility at Wheelersburg, they took me back, I took the test, and in 15-20 minutes I was heading home.”

“I have encouraged my friends to go have them done,” Karen added. “Where would I be if I hadn’t done that? I really didn’t have any symptoms other than my blood pressure had been up.”

Ask your provider about scheduling a CT Calcium Score Screening or call SOMC Heart and Vascular Associates at 740-356-8772 for more information.