Villa Rica resident and Southwire employee Stoney Ray Cheeks (pictured center), now age 45, had his first heart attack and got two stents back in 2013 when he was only 35.
In 2019, another heart attack resulted in three more stents, for a total of five.
Then his mother passed away, also from a heart attack. And Cheeks didn’t want another heart attack to potentially cut his life short like hers.
So when he began having chest pain again on Jan. 25, 2023, Cheeks was open to the idea of open-heart surgery.
“At first, I thought I would be admitted and would get more stents, but I told Dr. Khawaja that I trusted his judgment,” said Cheeks.
Shazib Khawaja, MD, FACC, FSCAI, a board-certified cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology specialist and chief of interventional cardiology at Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists, recommended the surgery.
After consulting with Dr. Khawaja (pictured on the left), Cheeks said he researched Tanner’s Omar Lattouf, MD, Ph.D., FACC, FACS, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon at Tanner.
On Feb. 1 — just one week later — Cheeks had open-heart surgery at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton with Dr. Lattouf (pictured at right) as his surgeon.
“The surgery went well,” said Cheeks. “But to be honest, I almost backed out. I was just nervous from the start. But Dr. Lattouf was straight up with me. He told me I could elect to go with another stent, but he felt I really needed open-heart surgery. A quadruple bypass. He explained the surgery and all of the side effects with me and my wife — so I went with it. My wife stayed strong but was a little nervous.”
During the week that followed, Cheeks worked with a respiratory therapist at Tanner named Doug.
“He made me blow in a tube. At the time, I was angry at him,” said Cheeks. “But he really helped me recover. And he didn’t let me slack off.”
Blowing into an incentive spirometer helps protect the lungs from pneumonia but can be painful at first.
A couple of days after he was discharged on Feb. 7, Cheeks noticed a little swelling and fluid in his incision.
He called Dr. Lattouf’s office and was told to immediately go to the emergency department. He ended up staying in the hospital in Carrollton for four more days to make sure any infection was gone.
During his follow-up with Dr. Lattouf a week later, everything looked good. Cheeks relaxed and healed at home, then began making his heart strong again with cardiac rehab on March 21.
“Cardiac rehab makes me feel safer and better,” said Cheeks.
Cheeks has a strenuous job at Southwire, a Carrollton-based wire and cable manufacturer.
“I can push myself and feel better about going back to work when rehab is over,” he said.
It wasn’t easy for Cheeks to keep his energy up at first, due to losing his taste for food immediately after the surgery. But he had been prepared for that by Tanner staff and soon was able to eat more – though a much healthier diet than before.
“I went from weighing 275 pounds to probably 220. And my A1C has dropped from 14 to 5.9,” he said. “I was on an insulin pump, but I haven’t needed to use it.”
Cheeks is also taking Mounjaro, a tirzepatide injection, and is determined to do whatever he needs to do to give his rejuvenated arteries their best shot at staying clear and healthy — which includes a lot more healthy food and grilling instead of frying.
“I just love Dr. Lattouf,” said Cheeks. “I owe my life to the whole staff at Tanner.”