Latest / Still Caring / 01: How Teamwork Saved Chad Weiberg's Life

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01: How Teamwork Saved Chad Weiberg's Life · Still Caring

• 0:03
  Intro: Welcome to the Still Caring Podcast presented by Stillwater Medical.
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  Here, community is at the heart of healthcare.
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  Through honest conversations and shared experiences, we explore what it
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  means to care for our health and each other, because Better health takes
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  a village and you're part of ours.
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  Host: Hello and welcome.
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  I'm Abby Fox from Stillwater Medical, and today we're talking
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  to Chad Weiberg, athletic director at Oklahoma State University about
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  his lifesaving open heart surgery.
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  We prerecorded this episode so I can tell you from experience that Chad gives us
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  a real play by play of how he discovered there was an issue And the medical
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  team and community that surrounded him.
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  Through the process, we get real about the realities he faced.
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  Preparing for a surgery of that magnitude And what life looks like now.
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  It's a conversation I think you'll really enjoy.
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  Listen in.
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  Thank you for joining us today.
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  We have Chad Weiberg here at Stillwater Medical.
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  Chad, thank you for being here.
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  Chad Weiberg: Absolutely.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  Host: Yes, absolutely.
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  Well, for our audience, will you just give a little bit of background about yourself
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  and when Stillwater became home for you?
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  Chad Weiberg: Well, I've, been in Stillwater, I've made it
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  home several different times.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  So we actually moved here when I was in junior high.
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  my dad was an assistant coach on OSU basketball staff.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  so, went to junior high here And then moved away And then came back for school.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  started in the athletic department as an unpaid intern my junior year in school.
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  And little did I know that it would lead to, someday then, being able
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  to come back, um, eight years ago as the deputy ad And then, took
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  over as the AD four years ago.
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  Host: That's amazing.
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  what is the favorite part of your job?
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  Chad Weiberg: Oh, definitely the people.
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  the opportunity to be around our student athletes first and.
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  And foremost, I think that's why any of us, here on a college campus get into what
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  we do is, is to, have the opportunity to, have, a part in what we all experienced
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  in college, which is, people shaping our lives and who we want to be as adults.
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  And then, you know, obviously the working with the coaches as well.
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  so they're a huge part of that for the student athletes also.
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  And then, just our fans and donors.
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  So it's, definitely the people.
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  Host: That's great.
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  Well, and you've been a great role model and community leader,
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  so we're grateful for that.
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  Most recently, you've been sharing your health journey, so talk to us about,
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  which includes open heart surgery.
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  Yeah.
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  When did you discover there was a problem?
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  Chad Weiberg: Yeah, So, It was, definitely something that, uh, came
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  up over the summer that was not on my summer bingo card, but, just very
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  blessed in the end That it was caught, So, It really just started with my
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  primary care physician, which is Dr.
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  Green.
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  on OSU campus, and he's great.
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  and, as I recall, these were things that, I call the 50-year-old things that
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  when I had my 50 year, annual physical, he started wanting me to do all these.
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  different things, and some of them I knew were coming colonoscopy,
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  you know, all those things.
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  And so kind of took care of those right away.
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  But, he also started talking to me about doing these vascular
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  screening and calcium score.
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  I kind of put those off.
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  because fortunately, with all my other tests, I, didn't have high cholesterol,
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  didn't have high blood pressure, so I kind of thought, well, I don't know why
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  he is asking me to, do these things.
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  But I, just put it off And then he'd bring it up.
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  My 50 one-year physical and he'd bring it up to my 52 year physical.
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  And, after the 53 year physical, I decided to go ahead and get it done.
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  And I think mainly just because I thought, well, I want to make him happy
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  'cause I really like him and mm-hmm.
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  so came in here to the hospital to do the, screenings and, everything.
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  Got my scores that day and everything checked out fine as far
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  as the vascular, screening And the calcium score was, really good.
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  and it wasn't, you know, it was several days later when I got,
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  uh, notice from, Amy Kirby mm-hmm.
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  The radiologist that, she had reviewed.
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  The CAT scan, that's part of the calcium score.
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  and had noticed that, I had an aneurysm in my, ascending aorta and, that I
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  needed to come in for further testing.
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  Of course, part of me thought This is a mistake 'cause, I left
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  there and everything was fine but before I could even call Dr.
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  Green.
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  To ask him if he'd gotten the same notice he was calling me
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  And said, that triggered a.
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  Series of other tests here, both here at the hospital, and, know, Dr.
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  Van Z Became my cardiologist.
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  So some tests with Dr.
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  Van Zant And then ultimately some tests at the Oklahoma
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  Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City.
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  And, each step of the way, I kind of kept thinking this was gonna get
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  better, but it, it actually, they were confirming, sort of worse things,
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  that this was definitely something that needed to get, taken care of.
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  So.
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  after my last test at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital is when
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  I met, um, my surgeon mm-hmm.
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  For the first-time Dr.
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  Randolph.
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  he started walking me through.
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  You know, what this was going to look like.
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  And at the end he asked if I had any questions and I was kind of like, I'm
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  having a hard time wrapping my mind around any of this much less questions.
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  And it was at that point that he kind of got real serious with me
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  and told me the seriousness of what we were, were dealing with.
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  and kind of when he put in that perspective, I quickly went from,
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  Are we sure we need to do this to how quick can we get this mm-hmm.
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  Scheduled and get it and get it done.
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  So, yeah.
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  Um, it's quite the journey, but, just very blessed that all of those people,
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  were able to, discover it and yeah.
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  And then get it fixed.
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  Host: What kind of fears and challenges do you kind of work
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  through in embracing that?
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  'cause if you've thought you've been healthy your whole life, like how Yeah.
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  You know, how do you walk into a surgery of that magnitude?
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  Chad Weiberg: Yeah, it was definitely a wake up call.
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  You know, I think that, You know, there's obviously all of the, fears,
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  concerns, whatever you want, call them.
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  But, pretty quickly got a lot of confidence just in the expertise
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  of the people that were Dr.
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  Randolph and his team, the people that were gonna be doing it.
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  You know, obviously the first question is how many of these have you done?
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  Mm-hmm.
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  It's literally, I think in the thousands.
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  So you're going, okay, okay.
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  That, that makes you feel good.
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  And of course his reputation, was just really, really good.
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  And so I felt good about that.
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  And you do kind of start thinking about the what ifs mm-hmm.
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  And the, all of that.
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  And have, I mean, I had some conversations with my wife about.
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  those things, but, felt good about that.
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  And that at the end, You know, as you're literally being wheeled in for, And
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  the surgery, I just, I kind of had this piece, that everything was gonna work
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  out the way it was supposed to work out.
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  Of course, faith for me is a big part of that.
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  but also just having confidence in, where I was and their ability to do it.
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  So, And again, just having the overall blessing, feeling of being
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  blessed that they even caught it.
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  Right.
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  Yeah.
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  Because there was really had no symptoms.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Host: And
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  Chad Weiberg: what I learned is I was likely to never have any
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  symptoms until it was just too late.
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  Yes.
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  with this particular, thing and, And so just very, very
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  blessed that they caught it.
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  Host: Absolutely.
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  we're a community health system, And so community is really important to us.
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  How was your community present to you as you navigated all this?
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  Oh man.
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  Yeah,
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  Chad Weiberg: So, it happened really quick, obviously going through the test
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  and figuring out where, this was headed And then when the decision was made
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  that that's what was going to happen.
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  So, and you know, we're getting ready to start football season,
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  high profile season, And we have.
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  Student athletes coming in, getting ready for their seasons.
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  And so, I didn't want to create a distraction.
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  I mean, that was the main thing and I felt really good about, my team, my
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  staff, And the athletic department.
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  Be able to continue everything moving forward, without my presence there.
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  And that was really important, just mainly 'cause of the time of the year,
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  it was ramping up for everything.
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  And, And so I really, it wasn't that I was trying to keep anything secret
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  or hidden or anything, but I just didn't want to create any distractions.
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  So, so, um, you know, there were a few key people, that I needed to tell, in advance.
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  but most everybody found out, like the night before the surgery, I sent
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  an email out to everyone and, and at that point, you know, the word kind of.
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  slowly spread and, the outpouring of support that, I got from, whether it was
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  athletic department staff or fans or, community members and not just me, but
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  obviously being very focused on my wife and family and making sure that they
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  had everything That they needed So, It was, I really, really appreciated that.
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  But at the same time I was like, uh, you know, I wanted to keep
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  everything focused on, you know, what was going on at OSU Athletics.
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  Host: Absolutely.
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  What does life look like on the other side of the big surgery of the, that?
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  Chad Weiberg: Yeah.
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  Well, there's obviously then just the recovery that you have to.
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  Go through.
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  And again, everyone was great and, you know, in the hospital
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  with you, start that journey.
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  And, once you get out, you know, they tell you what they want you doing And the, you
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  know, kind of the follow-up appointments.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Of course the medications and all that.
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  everyone here, hospital, Dr.
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  Green.
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  Uh
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  Host: mm-hmm.
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  Chad Weiberg: Heart Hospital, everybody involved with that.
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  it's been great.
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  Dr.
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  Van Zant and now I've started, rehab, so Oh, great.
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  Cardio rehab.
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  I'm here at the hospital And so that's been great just to, 'cause the biggest
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  thing the end of the day, once you kind of work through the first parts
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  of recovery is, for me at least, has just been building up my strength.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  And stamina.
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  'cause you don't realize how much of that you lose when.
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  you're just not able to do anything for that period of time.
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  And, so getting back into that, having them sort of
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  educate me and pace me mm-hmm.
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  Through what I should be doing has been really good.
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  feeling better, you know, every day just because of that.
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  Host: What are you most hopeful for when you think about the future?
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  Chad Weiberg: good question.
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  I mean, obviously, one of the things that I think has come out of this for
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  me is just this, realization, That, we are blessed to live in an age where
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  we've got, good knowledge and good technology, and a lot of, obviously really
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  skilled professionals that, can fix a lot of things that may be going wrong,
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  but they have to know about it first.
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  And so my message to, you know, all of my friends and counterparts
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  and anybody that has reached out to me, during this time has been.
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  Go get your physicals, You know, and get checked out what the doctors want you to
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  get checked out, you know, because if I.
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  You know, if I put these screenings off any longer, I mean, who knows?
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  Yeah.
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  What would've happened.
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  So I just really appreciate, you know, Dr.
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  Green's consistent, you know, message to get these done.
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  And so my message has been, listen to 'em.
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  Host: Yeah.
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  Chad Weiberg: Seriously.
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  And go get those things done.
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  Because you never know, you know, what they may discover and, and obviously
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  I'm finding it as the first step Yeah.
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  You know, to fixing it.
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  And so, um.
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  And I've had a lot of people, you know, through those conversations say,
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  Hey, I went in and got my screenings done, or got my physical done.
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  And, that's been great to hear.
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  Host: Do you feel like that information gives you a little
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  bit more control over your health?
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  Chad Weiberg: yeah, I think so.
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  I mean, I think it is just awareness I guess.
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  I've told a lot of my, friends that are obviously, my age mm-hmm.
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  Is that we're in a stage in life Right.
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  Where our, brains are still telling us that we're young.
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  Yeah.
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  You know, we don't, from that standpoint, don't feel like we're any
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  different than we were when we're 25.
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  But, our bodies obviously are not 25 anymore.
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  so yes, I think it, certainly.
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  Probably it is true all the time, but you know, I think as, we get older, we need to
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  probably be taking more ownership in our health and, I just paying more attention
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  to that sort of thing and making sure that we're, taking care of it as best.
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  Best we can.
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  Host: Absolutely.
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  Well, we're ending all of our conversations with a challenge to care.
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  So encouraging people to do something at a personal level, whether it's
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  for themselves or for the community.
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  Yeah.
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  So how would you summarize that challenge to care?
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  Chad Weiberg: Well, I think that would be, it is, You know, just stay on
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  top of your health and prioritize it.
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  you know, take it serious.
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  And that's everything from getting some, physical activity, whether that's
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  just walking or, whatever it is you.
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  I think that's.
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  You know, very important.
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  But then also just, doing your annual physicals and doing
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  what the doctors ask you to do.
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  Yeah.
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  If they want you to check something out, you know, to, do that.
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  So, we're very fortunate, here in Stillwater to have
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  Stillwater Medical mm-hmm.
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  And have the professionals here and, the services here that, You know.
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  You need to go, far away to do that.
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  So, encourage everyone to take advantage of that if they're here or wherever
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  they are, you know, their local.
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  medical professionals.
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  Host: Yeah.
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  And preventive care is such an important thing, you know, that's one of the reasons
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  why as a health system we prioritize that.
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  the heart screenings that you mentioned are only $50 all year round.
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  So yeah, it'd be easy to take advantage and to follow that challenge.
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  Yeah.
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  But just by getting a heart screening So, it
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  Chad Weiberg: super, super easy.
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  So it's kind of one of those ills.
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  I don't know why.
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  Put it off as long as I did.
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  I'm just very glad it didn't put it off any longer.
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  Host: Well, we're grateful for that too.
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  Thank you, Chad.
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  Being, being here today.
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  Thank
• 13:15
  Chad Weiberg: you.
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  Appreciate it.