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La Grande resident Buck Schaffer has the distinction of being the first patient at Grande Ronde Hospital (GRH) to undergo a loop recorder implant to monitor his heart’s activity. The procedure was done by Emilia Arden, DO, FACC, a cardiologist with the GRH Cardiology Clinic.

Buck’s implant was the first procedure of its kind performed at GRH. After several weeks of preparation, Dr. Arden and her team made local history in April of 2016 with the simple outpatient procedure. The loop recorder has been logging heart activity for him ever since.

Getting care close to home

Buck had been dealing with an increased heart rate, atrial fibrillation and atrial fluttering for several months since a health episode landed him in a hospital during the fall of 2015. Both conditions cause the two small upper chambers of the heart to beat irregularly and too quickly. Left untreated, these can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other serious conditions.

He had been treated by heart specialists in Idaho and Washington, but was referred to Dr. Arden by a cardiologist in Boise soon after the GRH Cardiology Clinic opened in February 2016. He recalls what a relief it was to have a cardiologist in La Grande after months of traveling out of the area to see a specialist for appointments.

Making medical history

Dr. Arden confirmed the suggestion that he have a loop recorder implanted to monitor his heart activity, including heart rate and arrhythmia information.

Although this particular implant procedure hadn’t been done at GRH before, Dr. Arden was confident that she and her team could perform the procedure. After several weeks of planning and preparation, the procedure was completed in April 2016 and was perfectly uneventful.

In addition to the patient and doctor, the implant team included Dr. Arden’s medical assistant, an anesthesiologist, the Medtronic (loop recorder) representative and three surgical nurses, as well as additional observers.

“I’d rather they overdid it than were unprepared,” Buck replies when asked about the crowd assembled to witness medical history at GRH.

The loop recorder in Buck’s chest is functioning as expected. It transmits information wirelessly to a device that allows Dr. Arden to interpret the data at their follow-up appointments. Buck also has the capability on his end to “bookmark” a time that he felt something unusual for Dr. Arden’s review.

‘Amazing’ progress

Since the device’s placement, Buck has seen Dr. Arden several times to analyze data from the loop recorder and monitor his progress. Almost a year later, he’s nearing a full recovery.

“It’s amazing to remember what I felt like last year. I’m moving snow and playing on the four-wheeler. I still get fatigued, but I’m able to listen to my body and know my limits,” he says. Buck hopes to continue to a full recovery in the near future with the help of the GRH Cardiology Clinic.