Since the moment her son Kevin got engaged, Sandy Pellegrine had looked forward to celebrating his wedding day surrounded by family and friends, including sharing the traditional mother-son dance at the reception. But just weeks before the wedding, chest pain led to a diagnosis that put those plans in jeopardy.
Until this spring, Sandy had every reason to consider herself healthy. The 60-year-old nurse and co-owner of a home care agency stayed active, ate well and had recently returned from a trip to Portugal with her husband where they’d enjoyed hiking and sightseeing. That's why the intermittent chest pain she began experiencing caught her completely off guard. With no history of heart disease, she struggled to make sense of what her body was trying to tell her and at first attributed it to a new kettlebell routine.
For several months, the discomfort came and went without a clear pattern. Sometimes it happened during activity. Sometimes it woke her from sleep. An initial evaluation in the emergency department was reassuring. Her blood work, electrocardiogram (EKG) and chest X-ray were normal, and because she had recently been exercising more and losing weight, a muscular cause seemed like a reasonable explanation.
But Sandy couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. “I kept thinking my body was trying to tell me something,” she said.
She trusted that feeling and continued looking for answers. Her primary care physician ordered a coronary artery calcium scan, a test that can help identify calcium buildup in the coronary arteries and assess a person’s risk for coronary artery disease. The results were concerning and prompted a referral to Tufts Medical Center interventional cardiologist Mohamad El-Zaru, MD.
Because Sandy’s son’s wedding was approaching, the initial plan was to schedule a cardiac catheterization after the celebration. Sandy, however, didn’t feel like it could wait.
“I told him, ‘I just don’t feel comfortable. I don’t want something to happen at my son’s wedding,’” she said.
Dr. El-Zaru listened to Sandy’s concerns and decided to move the procedure sooner. “The imaging findings were concerning, but what ultimately prompted us to move more quickly was Sandy herself,” Dr. El-Zaru said. “When a patient tells you that something doesn’t feel right, it’s important to listen. Patients know their bodies, and Sandy’s instincts proved to be exactly right.”
The cardiac catheterization revealed a much more serious situation than Sandy had expected. They found several blockages involving three major coronary arteries. Due to the severity of the coronary artery disease, instead of going home after the procedure, Sandy learned she needed urgent coronary artery bypass surgery.
The surgery could not wait until after the wedding. Cardiac surgeon Panos Vardas, MD, FACC, FACS, Division Chief of Cardiac Surgery, Tufts Medical Center, explained to a devastated Sandy that delaying surgery wasn’t a safe option.
“I knew logically they were right,” she said. “But emotionally, I just couldn’t accept that I wasn’t going to be there.”
Dr. Vardas understood how much the wedding meant to Sandy and her family. Knowing the surgery couldn't safely wait, he reviewed his operating schedule and rearranged cases so her procedure could be performed several days earlier, giving her the best possible chance of recovering in time to attend.
"Caring for patients means treating the whole person, not just the condition or the organ that suffers in each specific case,” Dr. Vardas said. “We take the time to understand what matters most to each patient—their concerns, their goals and the people and moments they are fighting for. In Sandy’s case, providing the safest possible cardiac care also meant doing everything we could to help her be present for one of the most meaningful days of her life."
Sandy underwent triple bypass surgery on Friday morning and was discharged from Tufts Medical Center 5 days later, on her 37th wedding anniversary and just days before the wedding.
During her recovery, Sandy noticed that everyone caring for her knew about Kevin’s wedding.
“The nurses, the therapists, everybody who came into my room would say, ‘I hear you have a wedding next week,’” she said. “I really felt like everybody was saying, ‘We’re going to get you there. Everyone was amazing.’”
That encouragement stayed with her as she worked toward recovery. When Dr. Vardas cleared her to attend the wedding, it came with specific instructions. Sandy would need to conserve her energy, use a wheelchair whenever possible and have medically trained family members nearby throughout the celebration.
Sandy had plenty of support. Her daughter Nicole is a former cardiovascular intensive care nurse who now works as a MedFlight nurse. Her nephew is a paramedic and his girlfriend is an emergency department nurse.
“I don’t think I could have had a better team watching over me,” she said.
Family members helped her move between the ceremony and reception so she could save her energy. She walked only when needed, knowing she had to be careful while still recovering from major heart surgery. Then came the moment Sandy had hoped for from the beginning.
When the music started, she stood up and danced with Kevin to I Hope You Dance. “It was the one thing I really wanted,” she said.
Many guests knew what Sandy had overcome just to be there. When the song ended, the room erupted in applause. She left before the reception ended and spent the next several days resting. At her first follow-up appointment after surgery, Dr. Vardas came into the room with a smile.
“The first thing he asked me was, ‘Did you go?’” Sandy recalled. “And I said, ‘Of course I did.’”
Today, Sandy continues to recover. She is gradually returning to exercise, spending mornings in her garden and preparing to begin cardiac rehabilitation. It’s a different summer than the one she imagined, but she’s grateful to be healthy enough to continue making memories with her family. Looking back, Sandy hopes others will pay attention to changes in their health and speak up when something doesn’t feel right.
“I think the biggest lesson is to really pay attention to your body and advocate for yourself,” she said. “I wasn’t ignored. Everyone did the right tests. But I knew something didn’t feel right, and when I spoke up, my doctors listened.”
For Sandy, the experience reinforced the importance of listening to your body and having a care team that takes your concerns seriously. Her decision to speak up helped uncover a serious heart condition, and her doctors moved quickly to provide the treatment she needed.
For Sandy, listening to her body, and having a care team that listened to her, made all the difference.
If you’re facing a serious heart condition, you deserve a team that listens to your concerns and works with you on the safest path forward. Learn more about the cardiac surgery experts at Tufts Medicine.
