A life saved

Highland man recounts a medical crisis and the caregivers he met along the way

By Wilfred Jones
Posted 3/8/23

What was planned as a New Year voyage for a Highland man and his wife instead became a trip to the emergency room. A plan for rest and relaxation could have turned into something much worse.

Jim …

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A life saved

Highland man recounts a medical crisis and the caregivers he met along the way

Posted

What was planned as a New Year voyage for a Highland man and his wife instead became a trip to the emergency room. A plan for rest and relaxation could have turned into something much worse.

Jim Plass and his wife Tina had made plans for a holiday getaway to the Bahamas. But on January 21, just one day before the start of their planned holiday, Plass started to have difficulty breathing, believing that he had pneumonia.

They made plans to go to First Care Medical on Route 299 in Highland. Arriving Saturday morning, Dr. Gillian Perry Carlstorm was the first to examine Plass. Seeing some abnormalities, she made arrangements to send him to the emergency room at Montefiore St Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh.

When he arrived, he was directly sent to the emergency room, where they began to conduct various tests around 7 p.m. A team was brought in to assist in removing more than 21 blood clots.

Plass was told that five years ago, it would have been a much different story. He would have been given blood thinners and they would have hoped for the best.

“Everything just happens to be in place for me,” Plass says. “It was the perfect storm.”

From his arrival at the front desk at First Care to the departure from Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall, Plass was more than happy with the treatment that was given and the attention they gave him as a patient. Despite the hospital cafeteria being closed at 9 pm, Plass recalled that on that first night, nurses were trying to get him a turkey sandwich to accommodate him.

During his stay, Plass was given a tropical fruit basket with a turtle from Dr. Rebecca Lowy, emergency medicine specialist at the hospital, to make up for the cruise he missed.

“I know you couldn’t go on the cruise,” she told him, “and I know you did’t get to see the turtles in the ocean, but here’s a miniature one.”

“I would like to thank everybody for their well wishes and their prayers,” wrote Plass in a Facebook post on January 24, the day he was released from the hospital. “ Thank God I was released today and I feel 100% better. We were scheduled to go on a cruise on Sunday and I was told by everyone in the hospital had we gone on the cruise I probably would not have come back. They ended up doing an operation on Saturday evening and they removed 21 clots from my lungs. I’m a blessed and lucky man to be here today. I owe my life to First Care Medical in Highland and for them then sending me to Montefiore St Lukes hospital where their team was absolutely awesome. Thank you to all of them as well.”

After the surgery, Plass was given blood thinners and a lifting weight limit. When told about the lifting restriction, Plass wanted to know if he could still hold his granddaughter, who was thankfully under the limit.

There will be other changes as well. In the days prior to the surgery, Plass was installing carpets with his business, CPL Floor Covering. Now he will move into a less physically-demanding role. On the plus side, though, he is still able to lift his baby granddaughter.

The cruise been planned for six months, and, unfortunately, they were not able to get a refund after their cancellation. They do hope to go on a different one later in the year.

If asked for advice based on his experiences, Plass says people should take care of their health and go to the doctor, if anything feels wrong. He knows that had he gone on his cruise, he might not have made it back.

“The big guy upstairs could not have put a better team in my path,” Plass says. “I want to make sure they all know how good they did and the world knows how good they did.”