Chapters Transcript Video Asymptomatic Three-Vessel Coronary Artery Disease Treated With Minimally Invasive CABG My daughter's wedding had already been planned at the time of my life-threatening diagnosis, and I knew that I needed to seek the right care to be there for her special moment. My name is Bob Cousins. I live in Pompano Beach, Florida. I'm married to my wife, Nancy. We have a son and daughter, uh, 2 grandchildren. I'm an attorney. I enjoy a lot of activities including playing tennis and skiing, fishing and boating, and exercise. I watched my cardiology issues very closely. My heart wasn't 100% because I did have some blockages, but they were minor and there was nothing of significant. In early March of last year of 2025, I was taking the garbage cans out to the curb. I felt like I was leaning over to one side. I was like kind of listing over or I, I didn't have good balance. I said to my wife, I'm going to call 911 just in case I'm having some kind of stroke. And so that set in. Motion, the diagnosis that I had major disease in 4 different vessels. Well, his overall health was actually pretty good, but the main concern I had is the fact that his arteries were very tightly blocked, and those arteries could lead to a serious heart attack. When I learned my diagnosis that I had blockages in 4 vessels, I was not only shocked, but I was pretty upset and nervous. I felt like I was just potentially facing a major heart attack and uh. That would be bad. There are basically 3 choices for someone who has blocked arteries of the heart. Number 1 is surgery. Number 2 is stenting. And number 3 is medical therapy. In his case, his arteries were so blocked up and there were so many arteries involved, surgery was the only real option for him. I learned of Doctor McGinn here at Baptist Health, Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute. When I first met him, I was very impressed. I knew that he had an air about him of confidence and competence. I said, if you're willing to do my surgery, I'd really like you to do that because I didn't want to have the sternotomy. Uh, I wanted to have the minimally invasive. If if that was possible, the incision on a traditional surgery is what I call the zipper, and many people call the zipper. It's a big old incision down the front of the chest. It involves cutting the main bone, the sternum, in half, which has to heal. The approach that I use, the minimally invasive approach, is a small incision on the side of the chest. It goes in between the ribs. And we don't break any bone. We don't cut any muscle either. When Doctor McGinn, uh, looked at my records and the catheterization and he goes, yeah, Bob, he goes, you would be a good candidate for the minimally invasive surgery. Who is a candidate for the surgery? And the answer to the question is basically everybody. I can almost always figure out a solution for almost every patient to create uh a minimally invasive approach for them. Please, I said, my daughter is here with us today. Uh, here it's the end of March. She's getting married on May 16th, OK? And I need to be better, uh, by the time of her wedding so I can walk her down the aisle and dance with her father-daughter dance at the wedding. And it's very meaningful to take part in so many different facets of a patient's life. Just the fact that I know that his surgery went smoothly is not the only thing that is in the back of my head. I'm thinking I gotta get this guy down the aisle because that's what's important to him. He was not only gracious but really understood the importance in our lives to get this done as quickly as possible. So structurally the chest wall is completely intact, so there's much less healing that needs to take place. There's much less pain. The disability is almost minimal. Almost all my patients get back to full activity within 8 days or 10 days. I was feeling very good after the surgery. Uh, 4 days after the surgery, I was out and on my way home. We expect our outcomes to be superlative, and they are superlative, and he is an example of exactly what we plan to achieve. We're international leaders in minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery, walking my daughter down the aisle. is truly a moment I will never forget. It was special. My daughter and I are very close. It just brought so much happiness to both of us. It was truly special. Then at the wedding reception, uh, we were able to dance together too, so that, that was pretty special too. He wanted to get back to his normal lifestyle, which included walking his daughter down the aisle, which included playing tennis and being active in his retirement years. The care that I received at Baptist Health Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute. I would describe as being outstanding to me, I'm back to normal 100%. Created by
