The sign on the highway reads:

20 Years of Open Heart Surgery Success!
Over 9,000 Cardiac Surgery Procedures.
Heart and Vascular Institute, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital

Impressive…to be sure. If I had seen it one month earlier, I would have noticed it and thought little. Today as my wife and I passed it on our wedding anniversary, it meant a lot more.

You see, I am one of those 9,000 surgery procedures.

I’ve never been very comfortable in hospitals. At five, my brother, sister, cousin and I were lined up outside the operating room at a local hospital waiting for Dr. John L. Dorris to remove our tonsils.

My gurney was the last in line, and I was frightened out of my wits. At the appropriate moment, I bolted.

It must have been quite a scene. A tiny five-year old in a surgical gown racing down the hallways trying to find a place to hide while hospital personnel followed in pursuit.

The ending to this scene was very predictable.

They won. My tonsils were removed, and for the next six decades I kept an unhealthy distance from doctors and hospitals alike.

Then, on a brilliant Memorial Day, at the start of the parade in Kingston, I stood up in the Grand Marshal's car, lifted my video camera above my head, and my world changed forever.

Pain like I had never experienced before filled my chest and then my left arm. A knife-like pain attacked my neck and gums. Perspiration rolled off my forehead like the great falls at Niagara.

I knew I was in trouble.

My brother Ken died of a heart attack at 50, and since that day I always carried Bayer aspirins. On this day they may have saved my life.

I took one with water, and, 5 minutes later, I chewed another. The pain stabilized enough that I was able to finish my work.

Later that evening the pain returned with a vengeance, and
I knew that my life was in danger.

A visit to our family physician, Dr. Michael Fath, resulted in arrangements for a cardiac catheterization. Dr. Michael Rupp, a physician of great skill and wonderful people skills performed the catheterization at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

A family friend since his childhood, Tom McGrath told me that Michael Rupp is the best at what he does.

Tom was right.

The results were not good. Four blocked arteries. The descending aorta was 95 percent blocked and the others had 70 percent blockage.

Grim news, indeed, yet there was hope.

If I wanted to live, I had to have Open Heart Surgery.

To my good fortune, Dr. Michael Harostock was available to explain my situation. He is an unimposing man in his 50’s. His smile is infectious, his eyes welcoming and his manner professional and very human.

I liked him immediately. He made me feel both comfortable and in very good hands. I knew instinctively that he was the person I wanted to do the surgery.

Our conversation sealed the deal.

He was available. I was apprehensive but resigned. My wife was characteristically optimistic and resolved.

On June 12, 2007, my heart and my life were in Michael Harostock’s gifted hands for about four hours. He and his team worked with discipline, competence and precision on my 65 year-old heart.

I lost no blood. The muscle was strong. The replacement vessels were harvested from my left arm, and my right leg and some from behind my heart.

In less than six hours, I was off the ventilator, and the next day I was about to begin rehab in the step down unit of the hospital.

Every morning Michael Harostock came to visit. Our conversations were brief but very reassuring. The more we talked, the more I began to recognize his enormous talent and his humanity. He combines the best in science and an understanding of the human condition.

His wife, Beverly Harostock, visited with us as well. Her compassion and concern filled us with optimism.

My room was never empty for long. Dr. Jean Emilcar, my anesthesiologist, visited frequently as did Tom McGrath.

The nurses in ICU and the step-down unit were wonderful as were the men and women from rehabilitation. True professionals all, they gave me confidence that I could get back on my feet and begin the recovery process.

On Father's Day my wife, Kitch, and my daughter, Elena, took me home.

Before I left the hospital, Dr. Harostock asked me to evaluate the experience.

Without hesitation, I replied: “It’s been the most positive learning experience of my life.”

“No one has ever said that about this operation,” he replied with that infectious grin.

I meant every word, and, if given the chance, I will write and produce episodes of our series, Windsor Park Stories, that will document exactly what I experienced.

On the way home I saw the billboard for the first time:

20 Years of Open Heart Surgery Success!
Over 9,000 Cardiac Surgery Procedures
Heart and Vascular Institute, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital

As our van sped by, I thought to myself, I am so fortunate to be one of them.

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