In spring 2020, Kay Bradford and her doctors were searching for the cause of stroke-like symptoms when they discovered a tumor in the right atrium of her heart.
Kay had experienced a transient ischemic attack (TIA), often referred to as a mini-stroke. Though the symptoms only last a few minutes, TIA is a strong indicator of a future stroke. In fact, doctors discovered that Kay had already had a stroke several years prior without realizing it.
“TIA is a trigger for healthcare professionals to look at what’s contributing to a patient’s stroke risk and see what can be fixed so they don’t have a major stroke,” said Kay’s daughter, Ruth Sonnenberg, who worked as a nurse at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Hillcrest. “All the other risk factors weren’t really present for Mom, so removing the tumor was the definitive answer to keeping that from being a long-term problem.”
A heart tumor, cancerous or benign, is a rare condition that occurs in fewer than one in 2,000 people. Because her tumor was relatively small, benign and didn’t appear to be interfering with the function of her heart, Kay opted to wait and watch the tumor rather than have surgery right away.
However, at follow-up scans in 2021 and 2022, the tumor appeared to have grown in size. It was causing tiny blood clots in her heart that could break loose and cause a major stroke.
“I was pleased with the idea of removing it intravenously in the cath lab rather than having open-heart surgery,” Kay said. “There were fewer risks and a faster recovery time, so I could get back to the responsibilities I had at home.”
Ruth attended many of her mother’s prior appointments at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Hillcrest and was with her on the day of the procedure.
“It made such a difference that we could take care of Mom in our hometown,” she said. “We had great access to her team leading up to the procedure and for all of the follow-up. As it turned out, she did have complications, and it was such a comfort to me to have familiar faces among the doctors and nurses who were caring for her. As a healthcare professional, you know too much and worry about the worst-case scenarios, but there were people I could lean on. That gave me a little more permission to think with my daughter brain and not my nurse brain.”
“I was so very thankful to be able to receive care in Waco,” Kay said. “With all the appointments and the longer recovery than we were anticipating, it would have been increasingly difficult to go somewhere else.”
Despite her complications, Kay fully recovered and greatly reduced her risk for a future stroke. “At my follow-up scan, my doctor said you wouldn’t even know I had surgery because my heart had healed up so beautifully,” Kay said. “I feel like God was in it, and He used very capable people to take care of me.”
