One night, DuWayne Sonnenberg woke up with terrible pain in his stomach. When the pain worsened, he and his wife, Sylvia, decided he needed to go to the emergency department at Perham Health. By the time they arrived, DuWayne was throwing up and sweating.

Seeing his condition, the staff acted quickly. To begin, they took an x-ray which showed an internal hernia blocking the blood flow to DuWayne’s intestines. This required emergency surgery.

The emergency department staff, “really got busy and I bet it wasn’t 45 minutes later and they knew what was wrong and I was being prepped for surgery,” he recalled.

General surgeon, Dr. Brett Glawe, was called in to do the emergency surgery. DuWayne was rolled into the operating room. After anesthesia was induced and before surgery started, he had his first heart attack.

“We were prepping DuWayne for surgery when we recognized that something was wrong. His blood pressure was very low and a pulse could not be felt. I started chest compressions immediately and we gave him epinephrine. Fortunately, we got his heart going again,” explained Dr. Glawe.

It was at this moment that Dr. Glawe decided DuWayne would need to go to Fargo. After calling for the AirMed helicopter, his heart stopped again. The surgery staff persevered, starting compressions and giving more medication to stimulate the heart. Again, it worked.

Upon arriving in Fargo, the cardiac surgeons performed tests that revealed two blocked arteries. As a result of the strangulated hernia, the stress on DuWayne’s heart was too much. The cardiothoracic surgeons put in two stents and a balloon pump.

Next he had surgery for the blocked hernia. Both surgeries went well.

DuWayne spent 13 days in Fargo. “I don’t remember anything. It happened on a Thursday and the next thing I remember was on the following Monday,” he said.

Once home, DuWayne had a lot of recovering to do. He received support from the Perham Living Home Care team. Nurses came to his home to provide wound care, check his pulse and blood pressure, and provide education on a heart healthy diet. “Home care can be the bridge between hospitalization and outpatient services,” said Jennifer Flatau, Perham Living Home Care clinical manager. Nurses also checked DuWayne’s hemoglobin being he has thin blood. During his stay in Fargo, he was given seven units of blood.

It is really important after surgery to get up and moving. Home care physical therapy staff helped him start exercising by walking at home; providing that bridge until DuWayne was strong enough to attend outpatient therapy. Physical therapists helped him start exercising by walking. Once he could walk up and down his driveway, he was ready for the next phase of his recovery: cardiac rehab.

Cardiac rehab is a medically supervised program to improve heart health after a heart attack or heart surgery. The program helps patients become healthier by having them exercise while staff supervise the patient’s heart. This supervision is to detect and prevent further heart complications.

“DuWayne was a model patient and an example of how consistent, hard work will benefit you physically, mentally, and emotionally,” remarked Katie Rosenthal, cardiac rehab coordinator. “To be able to go from having difficulty walking, to walking and exercising up to several miles in a 12-week span, is exciting to see and motivates us staff as well.”

Exercising on a treadmill or recumbent bike, rehab staff monitored DuWayne’s heart and blood pressure before, during, and after exercise. He went two to three times a week for three months. The whole time his heart and health were continually becoming stronger and improving.

“The staff were so wonderful. They took good care of me. When I finished my last session, all three of them gave me a hug,” he fondly remembered.

DuWayne still keeps up the exercise. “I got a wrist watch that counts my steps. I usually get 6,000 steps in a day. The most I ever did was 11,000 steps. I bought a used treadmill and walk on that when the weather doesn’t let me walk outside,” he explains.

Thinking back on his ordeal, DuWayne – and his family – are grateful for the great care right here in Perham.

“I’ve gone to Perham Health my whole life and I’ve always gotten great care. I wouldn’t go anywhere else unless Perham Health sent me there.”

Perham Health Community Relations