The right care, right here.
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I used to pride myself on not exercising. I thought I was just as healthy as the guy who spends two hours a day at the gym. But, one night a couple of years ago, I remember waking up feeling intense pain - it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.
I had a difficult time breathing, and I wasn’t sure what was happening. I didn’t really give it much thought until the next morning when I realized that something just didn’t feel right. My wife urged me to talk to my good friend, Dr. David Silver, a cardiothoracic surgeon who practices at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. We decided that I should get checked out. I had tests run, and halfway through they realized that something needed to be done right away. I needed quadruple bypass surgery, immediately.
Jim Weaver & David G. Silver, MD, FACS
Cardiothoracic Surgeon
- Ranks in the top 8th percentile nationwide for providing timely care to heart attack patients
- Ranks in the top 12th percentile nationwide for overall quality measurement in adult cardiac surgery
- Dedicated primary angioplasty program ranks in the top 11th percentile of hospitals nationwide
- First in the region to offer patients real-time, 3-D images of the heart via ultrasound echocardiography
- First in the region to offer Transmyocardial Revascularization Laser (TMR)
- Recognized by Money Magazine as one of the 25-best hospitals in the United States for heart valve replacement surgery
- Nationally accredited echocardiography stress testing laboratory
When something like this happens to someone else, you always think, “That could never happen to me.” But when you realize that you’re going to be the patient, it’s frightening. This was really happening to me, and I knew I had to get through it quickly because my daughter’s wedding was just two weeks away. We had just spent the last few weekends picking out music and practicing our father-daughter dance. I knew there was no way I was going to miss it.
"Ten days after my surgery...
I danced with my daughter at her wedding."
- Jim
Some of my friends told me that I should consider having a second or third opinion, but I decided I didn’t need any more testing. Dr. Silver has been practicing at Cheyenne Regional for over 20 years and has performed over 2,100 heart surgeries there. This place is state-of-the-art. The quality of this heart program MADE my decision. I had all the confidence in the world.
When it came time for me to have my surgery, Dr. Silver came back from his vacation in Mexico early just to perform the operation. I don’t think that would have happened in most places.
You go to this hospital for the same reasons you live in Cheyenne. The people are friendly, and they care about you. I knew going into the surgery that I had one of the biggest events of my life coming up. During my stay at the hospital, every staff member, nurse and doctor who walked into my room knew that I had one week to get to my daughter’s wedding. Everyone at the hospital was in the frame of mind that they were going to work with me and get me through this and on that plane. And it happened.
Jim and his wife Donna and their two dogs.
Ten days after my surgery, I flew to Flagstaff, Arizona, to dance with my daughter at her wedding. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
After the surgery I immediately felt better. Sometimes you don’t know how sick you were until you get better. Now, I am able to do all of the things that I have always enjoyed. I mow my five acres by hand. It takes me six hours, but I love it. People who are in my situation tell me that they think they should go to Denver, but I always ask them, “Why?” They have everything right here.
