Bowling Green woman reunites with team that saved her life
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) — A Bowling Green woman who survived a medical emergency involving blood clots in both lungs recently reunited with the care team at TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital that helped save her life, including a pharmacist whose calming voice she never forgot.
For Sue Miller, what began as lunch with friends turned into a frightening experience.
A sudden medical emergency
Miller had been feeling unusually tired for a couple of weeks but thought little of it. That changed when she walked to her car after lunch with friends.
“I could not catch my breath,” Miller recalled. “I could not breathe. And I had a little bit of chest pain.”
She managed to drive home before a friend took her to urgent care. She was then transported to the hospital, where doctors discovered blood clots in both lungs.
“I was apprehensive, not necessarily afraid, because I knew that we had to do something to get rid of the blood clots, or I might not be here,” Miller said.
A voice she never forgot
At TriStar Greenview, Miller’s care team included Shawn Brennan, Jamie Oakley, Callie Hullett, Amy Arnemann, Lindsey Millam and critical care pharmacist Mariah Durham.
The cardiac catheterization lab team performed a procedure to treat the clots.
“I remember that when she came in, I said, oh, she’s gray,” Hullett recalled.
During the procedure, Miller remembers hearing Durham explain the medications being administered.
“She just had a distinct voice that was just calming,” Miller said. “I just knew I was going to be okay.”
The following day, Miller recognized Durham’s voice outside her hospital room.
“I didn’t know that she had recognized my voice from the day before until I was in the room chatting with her,” Durham said. “That was really special for her to remember me and to realize that what we do and the reasons that we do things a certain way to make sure our patients have a good experience really does matter.”
A chance to say thank you
Miller recovered enough to return home on her daughter’s birthday, something her family had hoped would happen.
She later returned to the hospital to reunite with the people who treated her.
“Being in the cath lab we always see the patient on their worst day,” Millam said. “We always have to treat them that day, but we never get to see the recovery aspect.”
For Miller, the reunion was an opportunity to express her gratitude.
“These are my angels,” she said. “I’m not going to be here today. If it weren’t for these great people. And they’re all just wonderful. They’re heroes.”
