LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Oaklawn is known for some lively characters who frequent the Arkansas landmark.
Today, we’re introducing you to one of those folks who had long odds against recovering from a problem he didn't know he had.
To fans of Oaklawn, that one scene can conjure up memories and a sense of excitement. But for one fan, there is a memory and moment he'd like to forget. The day back in May, chiropractor John Dinofrio was not himself.
“I sat down on the bench there by the glass fireplace and Ken goes ‘Dr. D you alright, you alright?’” Dinofrio said. “I didn't hear a word he said, and the next thing you know, I was waking up in the emergency room.”
He had a congenital valve problem and needed doctors in Little Rock.
“Instead of a tricuspid valve, which everybody has, you've got a bicuspid valve and I was like, ‘Okay, what does that mean?’" Dinofrio said, “and he says well, the only way to repair it is to crack your chest open.”
For a holistic chiropractor, that didn't go over at all.
“You know I told ‘em, I said, ‘No one's crackin’ my chest open,’” Dinofrio said.
Interventional cardiologist Dr. Aravind Rao knew how serious it was.
“He has what we call severe atopic stenosis, which is thickening of one of the valves that lets blood out of the heart,” Dr. Rao said.
And thoracic surgeon Dr. Kenneth Howell also knew.
“It was quite clear he had to have something done in order to prolong his life and lead to a better quality of life,” Dr. Howell said.
Both doctors part of an interdisciplinary approach where teams of cardiologists and surgeons confer on every case.
“We're not in our own silos we're all collaborating learning things cause we all have different training pathways and so for us to collaborate and learn from each other is huge,” Dr. Howell said.
Unconvinced, Dr. D was allowed to call doctors in Houston and Cleveland for second opinions and wasn't totally sold on surgery when meeting again with Dr. Rao.
“He said 'Now don't get wild and crazy, you know you still got this problem don't exert yourself,'” Dinofrio said. “Saturday night, I went to my daughter’s, and she's having a birthday party, they start playing baggo. So, I start playing baggo — play three games of baggo — and by the next day everything went south. I started breathing like a fish out of water.”
Admitted the next day, Rao and Howell had their own form of baggo.
“That's when we vented and did what we call a balloon Valvuloplasty,” Dr. Rao said. “Basically we put a balloon across his valve — balloon the valve to improve the flow.”
“Immediately, I was like oh my God that's instant relief,” Dinofrio said. “And that's probably what saved my life.”
The verdict by the doctor team, open heart surgery, aortic valve replacement and bypass surgery. By then, Dr. D was convinced.
“When I used to walk down the driveway and go to the mailbox, I'd have to stop halfway now it's like back and forth back and forth no problem,” Dinofrio said.
A bad day at oak lawn had made him a winner after all.
John Dinofrio, Dr. D, is still in recovery mode which normally takes eight weeks after the procedure he had. But he has been given the green light to start driving again in a couple of weeks.