“I was pretty confident I was in the right place”

Jack Slavin’s 74-day health ordeal late last year was the first time he had been hospitalized for an illness in his 78 years of life. But, after a MRSA infection that forced the removal of his pacemaker and leads, a bleeding ulcer, and pneumonia all conspired to keep him in the hospital, he is now “feeling fantastic.”

“I was in the right place at the right time, and I’m a lucky guy in the first place,” he said.

Slavin, who lives in Dennis, credits Cape Cod Hospital Cardiac Surgeon Saqib Masroor, MD, and his entire team for successfully removing his pacemaker and leads after a MRSA infection had settled into one of the leads and was threatening to spread to his heart.

“The whole thing was kind of complicated, but it turned out to be handled very professionally,” he said.

Slavin has needed a pacemaker to regulate the rhythm of his heart for the past 15 years. It requires replacement every seven or eight years, the most recent of which was in May of 2022 in a Boston hospital where his cardiac provider is located.

But, in November of last year, he became quite sick and went to Fontaine Urgent Care Center in Harwich. The emergency medicine physician there referred him quickly to Cape Cod Hospital where infectious disease doctors discovered he was suffering from a MRSA infection located in one of the pacemaker leads that stretch from the device to the heart.

“They pretty quickly decided it could travel either way, and they decided they had to remove everything,” Slavin said.

Slavin was then referred to Dr. Masroor for the procedure, for which, prior to Dr. Masroor’s arrival, a patient was sent to a Boston facility. Slavin’s cardiologist in Boston assured him he was in good hands and gave him the green light to have the surgery done at Cape Cod Hospital. The initial procedure involved the removal of the device and leads, and the implantation of a temporary device while the MRSA was being treated. The antibiotic treatment was effective, and the infection was resolved, Slavin said, paving the way for the implantation of the permanent device.

Unlike the previous pacemaker, which prohibited the use of MRI for his every six months monitoring, the new device is compatible with MRI technology. With the previous device, doctors had to monitor the status of his pacemaker using a CT scan.

The new device is also equipped with Wi-Fi with a monitor he places on his bedroom bureau that transmits information to his cardiologist, which will alert his medical team if something goes awry.

“I was delighted with the new approach,” he said. “Everything kind of worked seamlessly.”

In the Right Place

Slavin was sent to a rehabilitation center after the procedure, where he received six weeks of post-operative antibiotics. While he was there, he passed out and was sent back to the Cape Cod Hospital Emergency Center, where he was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer, which was unrelated to the surgery, Slavin said. He then developed pneumonia, which required a lengthy hospital stay, he said.

Slavin said he was confident throughout that he was receiving the best treatment.

“Although I was sick as a dog when I went in (with the MRSA infection), I was pretty confident I was in the right place,” he said. “We’ve had a house here since 1984 and me and members of my family have gone (to CCH) over the years, and what was once a sleepy little hospital has been modernized and built up. It was quite a transition over the years since we’ve lived here, and the news about it kept getting better and better. I could have insisted on going to Boston, but I felt perfectly comfortable here.”

Despite the health setback, Slavin said he is gradually regaining his strength and expects to be back mowing his lawn, raking leaves and doing all the other household chores he enjoys again soon. He has set a goal with his physical therapist to walk one mile by April 1, and fully expects to reach it.

Slavin said he is grateful to Dr. Masroor, his team and everyone who cared for him at Cape Cod Hospital. He recalled that while he was being prepped for surgery, Slavin said Dr. Masroor was by his side.

“I said, ‘Are you the one operating on me?’ And he said, ‘I sure am. No problem.’ He was so reassuring standing there, kind of patting me on the shoulder, and I fell asleep with his hand on my shoulder. Sometimes that’s the last time you see the (cardiac surgeon), but he came to my room to see how I was doing a couple times. I liked the personalization he gave me.”