Baystate Medical Center treats rare medical condition: heart tumor in pregnant woman – MassLive.com

SPRINGFIELD Catherine Glennon never expected that the pain and numbness she felt in her right foot would kickstart a two year-plus journey that would culminate with the birth of her second child and be immediately followed by open heart surgery.

But thanks to the staff at Baystate Medical Centers Midwifery & Womens Health, a rheumatologist and the hospitals Division of Cardiac Surgery, what could have developed into a potentially life-threatening situation for both the Springfield mother and child was successfully averted.

Before I was pregnant with my second child, I started having outrageous pain in my right foot. It started suddenly one day. I was on an elliptical machine at the YMCA and felt a sharp pain. I spent the summer before last going to doctors trying to figure out what it was, said Glennon. I ended up with a rheumatologist because they thought it was an autoimmune disorder called 'Takayasu Arteritis,' a disease that inflames some arteries and can move to any place in your body.

But this initial diagnosis was the first of many surprises for Glennon, a teacher and mother of one with no history of health issues.

In October 2018, I found out I was expecting a baby. But talking to my OB'GYN, I learned that Takayasu Arteritis could create complications with my pregnancy, said Glennon.

As a result, Glennon said that her midwife at Baystate Midwifery Womens Health recommended that she meet with one of Baystate Medical Centers maternal fetal medicine specialists, Dr. Diana Rodriguez.

I had planned to chaperone my son's school trip to Italy. Dr. Rodriguez assured me I would be fine. She said that when I got back, I should get an echocardiogram as an extra precaution because the disease could cause heart problems, said Glennon.

From the moment she was referred to the waiting room instead of being sent home after undergoing her echocardiogram, Glennon said she suspected something wasn't quite right.

I got a little nervous when I was referred to the waiting room. Then, a whole team of OB'GYN specialists and cardiologists told me the news, she said.

Glennon said it was Dr. Andrew Healy, a high risk perinatologist from Baystate Maternal Fetal Medicine, who broke the news: doctors discovered she had an atrial myxoma a noncancerous tumor of the heart that would need to be removed as soon as possible.

We agreed that a C-section would be safer. A natural birth would put strain on my heart, said Glennon. They scheduled the C-section for the next morning, June 1, and my son, Quinn, was born at just under six pounds and healthy, but needing to spend a week at the NICU so his lungs could further develop.

With Quinn safe, Glennon said her attention turned toward her own upcoming procedure open heart surgery to remove the tumor which she said was miles beyond any medical procedure she has ever experienced in her life.

I had only been hospitalized for my first child birth and my only surgery was a tonsillectomy. It was zero to sixty, she said.

Glennon was then seen by Dr. David Deaton, a cardiac surgeon with the hospital's Heart & Vascular Program, who explained the surgery and worked to alleviate the many fears that she had.

As these tumors grow, pieces can break off or form a clot that breaks off. They're considered fairly urgent to address. Sometimes they can get so big they can obstruct the blood flow, said Deaton, a veteran surgeon who will reach his 30th year at the hospital in July 2020.

We try to take these out acutely and urgently. When they present, they do have a tendency to become apparent during pregnancy. It can present a concern around the mother's health, the fetus's health; sometimes we have to tailor the treatment to the situation, he said.

Deaton said that while the surgery is considered to be low-risk, conducting such a procedure on a woman carrying a child especially so late in her term wasn't even an option.

To remove a myxoma, you have to go on a heart/lung machine that circulates blood outside the body. It keeps the body alive by diverting blood that would go to the heart outside of the heart. It requires an incision right down the middle of the chest and a week in the hospital, he said.

Deaton continued, A myxoma oftentimes does occur in people who are younger and oftentimes they don't have any other diseases. So, the surgery itself isn't as risky as other operations we do; but open heart surgery has its own spectrum of risks. It's more risky than, say, having a hernia removed, but with open heart surgery, the chance of dying is one percent.

Most importantly, however, Deaton noted what would have happened if doctors had not discovered the tumor.

The risk that a person faces is substantial if we didn't perform surgery. Most people would have a stroke. In fact, myxomas are typically found because somebody has had a particular event, such as a stroke and we go to see where the clot came from. Other times, somebody gets an echocardiogram for some reason, and low and behold, there's a myxoma and no symptoms deferrable to it.

Such was the case with Glennon, according to Deaton.

Post-surgery, Glennon said shes grateful to say that life is back to normal a new normal that benefits her whole family.

The surgery went very, very well. They removed the tumor. The days after my surgery were very painful and humbling. But the nurses at Baystate were the most incredible people. I have so much respect for the people who were with me; especially the nurses I grew to have daily experience with, over and over, she said.

Glennon said that she was back home less than a week after the procedure and quickly noticed that something simply felt different.

I didn't know how exhausting having a heart tumor was. I've always been an energetic person. I didn't realize I didn't feel well to begin with, she said. I had a three-month recovery period before I could drive. I had summer break to recover and started teaching at a new school at the beginning of the school year.

Glennon continued, The perspective change to be able to step back from things and put them into a big picture like I haven't been able to before has been a big change. My son, he's the best older brother out there. If I didn't get pregnant with Quinn, doctors may never have found my heart tumor, she said.

And regarding her treatment at Baystate, Glennon said she never considered seeking treatment anywhere else.

I honestly didnt think of going anywhere else. My parents live right over the line in Chicopee. I loved that my husband (Tom) and son could stay there with me. They were phenomenal throughout all this. My husband was a rockstar. My parents, too. We lived with them for the month of June with our 8-year-old and dog, too, she said. It was great to have the support. I wouldnt have been able to do that if I went to Boston.

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Baystate Medical Center treats rare medical condition: heart tumor in pregnant woman - MassLive.com