Author: McLaren Flint
The feeling was something Rick Toldo had become accustomed to- his heart pounding in his chest so intensely, it stopped him in his tracks.
“The first time I was hospitalized with AFib was more than a decade ago,” Rick said. “The second time was just a few years after that. When the procedure I was supposed to have for it got cancelled, I just never rescheduled. I didn’t want to take the down time from work.”
AFib or atrial fibrillation is an irregular heart rhythm that happens when the heart’s upper and lower chambers aren’t working together as they should. Rick had lived with the episodes for more than a decade, but in the summer of 2024, he noticed they were getting worse.
“Ironically, I noticed them happening more and more after I retired in June of 2024,” Rick said. “Many times, on my way home from a round of golf, I would have to pull over, lie back, and try to slow my heart down.”
Rick’s family and friends urged him to get help, but he had convinced himself he would be fine, even though AFib is a leading cause of stroke. But by December 2024, Rick couldn’t ignore the warning signs anymore.
“I went to Costa Rica with my wife and had two episodes. During one of them, I became so dizzy, I nearly walked through a glass door,” Rick said. “When we got home from that trip, I decided it was time to do something. I could not put it off any longer.”
A friend recommended Rick see McLaren Flint cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Mustafa Hassan.
“I know a good human when I see one, and once I met the man, I was all in, willing to do whatever he wanted me to do,” Rick said. “Before that, I had ignored everyone.”
Dr. Hassan was not convinced AFib was behind the episodes and thought it might be supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) instead. So, the first order of business for Dr. Hassan was to implant a cardiac monitor, or loop recorder, into Rick’s chest.
“You go in, they make a small incision, insert it, then close you back up. It was nothing,” Rick said. “Then you link it to an app on your phone, and it monitors you 24/7.”
For weeks, there was not much happening on that heart monitor, but then one day Rick got a call from Dr. Hassan’s office. The monitor recorded something concerning enough that Dr. Hassan wanted to get him on the surgical schedule for an ablation, which is a procedure that destroys the heart cells that cause the abnormal rhythm.
“Just before the procedure, Dr. Hassan visited me to reassure me that he only expected to find minor issues,” Rick said. “But, in the recovery room afterward, he told me what a mess he discovered inside my heart while I was in the cath lab.”
Rick not only had AFib in the left chamber of his heart and atrial flutter- a faulty electrical circuit- in the other.
“In Rick’s case, we went with the newer pulsed-field ablation technology, called FARAPULSE™, which uses high-energy electrical pulses to destroy the cells causing the abnormal rhythm,” Dr. Hassan said. “It is designed to be safer and more effective, with fewer complications than other methods.”
The whole experience was an eye-opener for Rick, who had for so long rejected his loved ones’ pleas to get help for his racing heart.
“I did this for my family more than I did it for myself, but I am extremely glad now that I did because I haven’t had any more episodes. I got very lucky not having a stroke,” Rick said. “I think back to all of the times I had to pull over to the side of the road without even thinking about the fact that I was putting other people in danger, not just myself.”
He is also grateful to the doctor and care team who finally healed his heart.
“Dr. Hassan talks to you in plain language. I understood everything that was going on,” Rick said. “And the team at McLaren, everyone was so great, it was unbelievable.”
To learn more about McLaren Flint’s advanced comprehensive heart program, visit mclaren.org/flintheart.