Dean Schill
Dean Schill, a Flagstaff resident for 15 years, was the picture of health. He exercised daily and followed a low-fat diet. He even worked in the healthcare field. He knew the warning signs of serious diseases, and he was sure he was healthy.
Then one day he experienced about 90 seconds of fuzziness and a loss of balance. It quickly passed, so he ignored it. A month later he experienced another episode, this time for about a minute. Again, he ignored it. But three months later he felt it again for five long minutes. This time he listened to what his body was telling him and decided that something was wrong.
Dean went to see his doctor, who was also concerned. Fearing a series of transient ischemic attacks, or “mini-strokes,” his doctor ordered an ultrasound of the carotid arteries in Dean’s neck. The test revealed a 90 percent blockage in his right carotid artery and a 70 percent blockage in the left artery. It was clear something had to be done.
Dean was presented with two options. He could go with two traditional surgeries, separated by two weeks, opening up each carotid artery and removing the blockages. Or he could choose two minimally invasive procedures performed in the Flagstaff Medical Center Cardiac Catheterization Lab, separated by a month. Dean chose the minimally invasive procedures, performed by recognized authority in interventional cardiology and pioneer of carotid stenting, Eric Cohen, M.D., one of the physicians of the Heart & Vascular Center of Northern Arizona.
The day of the first procedure, Dr. Cohen placed a stent in Dean’s right carotid artery, and before the day was over, Dean already was up on his feet. A month later he had the procedure repeated on the left carotid artery. Again, he was back up on his feet that same day.
With the two successful procedures behind him, the emergency was over, but the danger remained. Abnormally high cholesterol, a factor of his genes, was to blame for Dean’s carotid blockages. Despite his healthy diet, he found he needed to lower his cholesterol numbers.
That’s where Kenneth Bescak, M.D., came in. As Northern Arizona’s only board-certified lipidologist and a physician with the Heart & Vascular Center of Northern Arizona, he was able to create just the right mix of prescription and over-the-counter medications to lower Dean’s cholesterol and keep it under control.
Today, Dean is feeling fine, and he’s more active than ever. With his arteries cleared, he’s amazed at how much energy he has - more than enough to tackle a 4,500-mile transcontinental bicycle ride this summer from Anacortes, WA, to Bar Harbor, Maine. And he feels lucky to have found and treated a problem that could have caused a fatal stroke. After all, he had always made choices to lead a long healthy life. Now, even though his genes worked against him, Dean has decades of good health ahead of him, thanks to the Heart & Vascular Center of Northern Arizona, a partnership of Flagstaff Medical Center and Verde Valley Medical Center.
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