MADISON, Wis. – Seeing hallway lights pass by one after another at University Hospital is a common sight for Michael Abernethy, UW Health Med Flight and emergency medicine physician. But, it’s new to see them from the perspective of a patient on the gurney being wheeled swiftly toward the operating room.
Around Thanksgiving 2023, he was in that very position, seeing what so many of his patients have seen over the years.
Abernethy, 65, a 32-year Med Flight veteran, clinical professor of emergency medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and an avid runner, was out for a run in a nature preserve near his home in northern Illinois when he noticed on his smartwatch that he was having a hard time pushing his heart rate past 130 beats per minute – a casual pace for running – and he was also having a little chest pain, he said.
He decided to push through the unusual symptoms – and then he woke up on the ground with a face full of dirt.
“I woke up and it was dark, so I walked back to my car, looked at my smartwatch and noticed I had no pulse for about a minute,” Abernethy said.
The episode was a shock because he noticed nothing out of the ordinary in his daily life, but it was clearly a warning to get checked out.
Abernethy was scheduled to leave for Europe, but decided it was best to check things out first. He went to East Madison Hospital for testing that involved running on a treadmill, which he said did not go very well.
“I left for work in Beloit, and they called me later in the day and said, ‘you can’t go to Europe,’” Abernethy said.
He went to University Hospital later that week and met with the cardiology team to discuss his situation, and after reviewing the results from his testing, Abernethy received some blunt news.
“They said, ‘I can’t let you leave the hospital in good conscience,’” Abernethy said. “They couldn’t believe I was functioning, as bad I was.”
He was diagnosed with multivessel cardiac disease, which means that two or more of his main arteries were narrow, not allowing proper blood flow.
“My heart was fine, I just had really bad plumbing,” Abernethy said, with a laugh.
He was immediately scheduled for bypass surgery with Dr. Satoru Osaki, a cardiothoracic surgeon, UW Health, and professor of surgery, UW School of Medicine and Public Health
Abernethy had delivered thousands of patients over the years to surgeons, including several to Osaki, and many who were taken care of in the cardiac intensive care unit by Dr. Joshua Glazer, emergency medicine physician and associate professor of emergency medicine, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, but now he was the patient needing their care.
“These halls I walked thousands of times, but now I’m wondering, ‘is this the last time I see these halls?’” Abernethy said.
The uniqueness of having a close colleague in his care was not lost on Glazer, but the scenario demanded a certain mindset, he said.
“There is this temptation that you think, ‘I need to do something extra or above and beyond for this individual,’ but then you remind yourself that the very best thing you can do is treat them like any other patient, because any other UW Health patient is already receiving the best care medicine can deliver,” Glazer said.
Cardiac rehab in the ICU was another role reversal for Abernethy.
“I was that guy,” he said. “For decades, I saw people struggling to walk the hall in rehab with their IV poles and chest tubes.”
Throughout his time in the ICU, residents he helped train came by to see him clinically, and he knew all the attending physicians, another aspect of his situation he came to appreciate.
“To see it from that angle, how important the little things are, was fascinating,” he said.
Abernethy’s recovery went well, and he was back home in four days, and while the recovery was humbling because of how active he had been throughout his life, he was back to work in about nine weeks. He was even back to running again, notching a 5K race over the summer and plans to participate in another marathon.
The experience brought Abernethy more than a unique personal perspective, it gave him a deeper understanding of the patients he cares for every day, he said.
“You realize that everyone has their own story, their own life and their own fears and you never forget how scary it must be,” Abernethy said. “For our patients, this truly is the worst day of their lives and you try to remind yourself of that, and that this person is going through a lot and you remain empathetic.”
