Jimmy Erickson’s Story
Heartfelt gratitude
"Just like any other morning, we were watching television while eating breakfast," said Cindy Erickson of Yazoo City. "An ad came on about heart screenings at Baptist. The cost was very reasonable and I looked at my husband and said, 'You know, we should do that.'”
Fortunately, Jimmy Erickson, a 68-year old retired farmer, agreed with her suggestion. Cindy quickly made an appointment for both of them.
Cindy’s screening, thankfully, went fine. But she was told by the staff that they wanted the couple to stay a bit longer so the doctor could take a closer look at Jimmy’s results. After some additional tests, the cardiologist told them that Jimmy at some point had had a heart attack, and that he needed to have a heart catheterization procedure as soon as possible.
“They promptly scheduled a heart cath for that following Monday,” recalls Cindy. “Results showed they didn't need to waste any time in getting him to surgery. In fact, he had triple bypass surgery the very next day."
"It happened so fast, I hardly had time to think about it!" said Jimmy. "That screening saved my life!”
Looking back, Jimmy realizes that there were some signs that he had a problem. He noticed he was often feeling tired, but he thought his lethargy was just part of getting older.
“But after the surgery, I feel a whole lot better,” he says. “I have so much more energy now. I play golf as often as I can and exercise at least 30 minutes a day on the elliptical machine.”
Jimmy and Cindy are very grateful for the responsive, compassionate and comprehensive care he received from his care team at Baptist Heart.
"During my stay at the hospital, everyone was just great!" he said. "I received excellent care."
"All the staff were so kind and sweet to us," said Cindy. "They treated us like family. The care was much better than we ever expected. I want to tell everyone they should get screened, because we feel sure that the Baptist Heart screening saved Jimmy's life!"