After heart surgery, life returns to normal for New Castle man

Bud Martin of New Castle

Take it from Bud Martin—when normal activities wear you out, it’s probably time to make an appointment with your doctor. If Bud hadn’t followed that advice in early 2014, he might not be alive today to tell his story.

Bud was in Florida when he experienced chest pain while helping a friend shovel gravel. A couple of weeks later, he and his wife, Janice, returned home to New Castle, Indiana, and Bud noticed that everyday chores were causing him to feel out of breath. So he made an appointment with Cardiologist Nathan Millikan, M.D., at New Castle Cardiology, to get it checked out a few days later. New Castle Cardiology is part of Reid Heart & Vascular Center.

“Dr. Millikan was great, very professional,” says Bud, who is 72. “He told me that with my age and a family history of heart problems, I ought to have a cardiac catheterization, just to see if I had any blockages in my arteries.”

The catheterization, performed by Dr. Millikan at Reid Heart & Vascular Center, showed significant blockages in four of Bud’s arteries, including the left anterior descending artery – otherwise known as “the widowmaker.” In a matter of minutes, Reid cardiovascular surgeon John Kuhn, M.D., joined Dr. Millikan at Bud’s side. “The two doctors explained that I was going to need open heart surgery to bypass the blockages – stents weren’t going to cut it,” Bud said. “I had already told Dr. Millikan that if I needed surgery, I wanted Dr. Kuhn to do it—a friend had recommended him to me very highly.”

Surgery took place five days later. “I was very nervous beforehand, but everything came out great,” Bud said. “Dr. Kuhn told me later that I didn’t have any heart damage and he expected my recovery to go really well. I stayed at Reid for five days, and I don’t think I could have been treated any better by the staff. All the nurses were A-number one. It seemed like the whole place was run by teamwork, and everyone knew what they needed to be doing.”

These days, Bud is feeling good and back to enjoying his retirement years, which involve plenty of golf. “I’m just glad the doctors caught the problem and were able to treat it as well as they did,” Bud said. “Both of them say I’m doing great and just to keep on doing what I enjoy doing.”