At Torrance Memorial, emergencies are normal. Hospitals treat emergencies, after all. But even people who work at Torrance Memorial every day can see it in a different light when they experience the hospital during their own emergency.
That was the case for Connie Senner, Torrance Memorial’s director of design and construction, one Monday in January. Her emergency had been building since the previous Thursday, when she woke up winded with an elevated heart rate and blood pressure.
Later, interventional radiologist George So, MD, would say that even then, Senner was exhibiting the symptoms of a potentially fatal condition. Her lethargy continued through the weekend. On Monday she felt worse, so she called her cardiologist, Brenton Bauer, MD, who convinced her to go to Torrance Memorial’s emergency department.
For Senner, who works nearby, that’s usually a short walk. By that afternoon, though, she felt so weak that her colleagues drove her in a golf cart. “I could barely walk, I felt so weak,” she remembers.
Torrance Memorial’s ED physicians soon had a diagnosis: a CT scan revealed a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in one of the arteries in her lungs. Tests also showed she had right heart strain; that is, her right ventricle was under excessive pressure. “That’s not a good sign,” Dr. So notes. “It’s quite serious.”
Dr. So was on his way home. “I had already left the hospital when I got a call telling me there was an emergency case,” he recalls. “I turned right around. No one told me it was Connie, but when I saw her, I knew immediately.”
Senner and Dr. So work together closely at the hospital. “She helped me build Torrance Memorial’s new $5.1 million interventional suite, so she understands what the environment is like,” the doctor shares. “It’s different being a patient, though, and in a case like Connie’s we know that if we don’t intervene in a timely manner, there will be a bad outcome. We knew we had to perform a procedure the same night.”
The procedure was an emergency thrombectomy to remove the blood clot that was placing such strain on Senner’s heart. Her right ventricle had dilated to twice its normal size due to high resistance affecting blood flow through the lungs.
Torrance Memorial Medical Center interventional radiologist George So, MD, shows Connie Senner, the hospital's director of design and construction, the CT scan of her pulmonary embolism.
“Connie’s condition was serious but treatable,” Dr. So says. “Our team is very experienced, and we have state-of-the-art technology. I knew we would be able to take care of her.”
“I was moved to the interventional radiology suite in Lundquist Tower,” Senner remembers. “I helped design that room, but I can tell you, I’ve never looked at the ceiling quite the way I did that afternoon. A wonderful set of familiar faces gave me a lot of comfort, including Dr. So.”
Thrombectomies are minimally invasive procedures. “We use blood veins as a highway,” Dr. So explains. A thin, flexible catheter is inserted into the femoral vein at the groin and guided up toward the location of the thrombus, or clot, in the pulmonary arteries. At the catheter’s tip, specialized tools can break up the clot or suction it out. The procedure takes about an hour.
“Previously, we put patients on blood thinners or anticoagulants, which can cause internal bleeding,” Dr. So says. “The minimally invasive procedure has completely changed how we manage patients. Removing the clot is a much more certain treatment, and even though the technology outlay is expensive, ultimately it’s less expensive and more efficient because patients recover more quickly.”
Because general anesthesia can cause the heart rate and blood pressure to drop—worsening the condition—patients remain awake throughout the procedure. Senner turned to meditation techniques to remain calm.
“I was conscious, so I could listen to everything happening,” she says. “I marveled at the teamwork and humble approach Dr. So had toward the entire process. I felt really zen; in my mind I was someplace else relaxing.”
The thrombectomy was effective immediately. “When they finished the procedure and I took a deep breath, it was as if a switch had been flipped,” Senner says. “For the first time in days, I could take a full and deep breath.”
She was out of the hospital four days later. “There was no physical therapy or rehab. I took it easy for a couple of weeks, but now I’m back to 100% with my physical activities: walking, hiking, cycling and golfing.”
Senner is taking blood thinners to prevent the formation of additional clots, but her prognosis is excellent, says Dr. So. “We’ve performed a lot of these procedures, and the outcomes are fabulous. Torrance Memorial has a reputation in this area, and we’re now part of a national project to evaluate a next-generation device for the procedure. We’re always looking for better ways and better technology to take better care of our patients.”
Senner, who has worked at Torrance Memorial for 34 years, came away from the experience with a new perspective. “I received a lot of personal validation that we made great design decisions,” she reflects about the hospital’s Lundquist Tower. “We develop our design decisions based on input we get from frontline staff to help workflow and patient-care objectives. To feel that we hit the mark from the patient perspective was very gratifying for me. I found that in the details, like stations allowing nurses to work at a patient’s bedside, or lighting design that isn’t blazing bright at night.
I’m very excited about what we’re embarking on with the expansion of our emergency department,” says Senner. “They do an excellent job. Just the thought of doubling their capacity is exciting!”
