Chaplain has a new perspective to bring to her ministry after heart surgery

The Rev. Mang Tiak was visiting California for a church conference when she began to feel bad. The 63-year-old senior staff chaplain at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center talked to a doctor who told her she might have a kidney stone.

Upon returning to Houston, Tiak made an appointment with her kidney doctor who didn’t find a problem. The specialist told her to see her primary care physician because Tiak was complaining of chest discomfort and a slight headache. Ultimately, a CAT scan revealed Tiak had an aortic aneurysm, or a bulge or weakening of the aorta, which is the main artery that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.

Aortic aneurysms can cause two problems. They may rupture, allowing blood to burst out into the body, or they may lead to dissection if blood pumping forcefully through the aorta splits the layers of the artery wall. Both are potentially fatal.

Dr. Marc Moon, Chief of Adult Cardiac Surgery at Baylor St. Luke’s and Professor and Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, said the hospital’s aortic center evaluates and follows many patients with aneurysms, the majority of which do not need surgery. Some patients with aortas a little bigger than average may fear they have “a time bomb in their chest,” because their primary care doctors may not see many aneurysms, he said. The bigger the enlargement of the aorta, the bigger the risk.

“We can generally help triage what the risk might be of continuing to observe versus considering a prophylactic surgery” so it won’t rupture or tear, Moon said. Often, patients are treated with blood pressure medication.

In Tiak’s case, her aneurysm was getting bigger.

“She was at a size where the risk outweighed the risk of a surgical intervention, so we took her for surgery,” Moon said.

Tiak was scared. Her brother had two aneurysms in 2008 at the age of 45. There were complications following surgery for the second aneurysm in his stomach, including paralysis below the waist. Tiak spent many weekends driving from Houston to Dallas to care for him before his death at age 49. Heart disease also runs in her family.

Moon performed a successful aortic repair, cutting out the enlarged part of Tiak’s aorta and replacing it with a tube made from Dacron that essentially lasts forever.

“In her case, I would anticipate a normal lifespan without complications,” Moon said.

While Tiak was initially frightened before surgery, she felt comfortable going forward. “I found comfort and peace somehow by the support and the confidence that I have with the medical team, the surgical team and hospital,” she said. “That helped me a lot knowing I’m in good hands, besides the great hands of our great physician, the Lord.”

I had a genuine encounter with God's unwavering presence. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod, and your staff, they comfort me,” is a verse from Psalm 23:4 that was echoing deep in my heart as I was being wheeled to the operating room.

In her role as a chaplain ministering to cardiac patients before heart surgery or other procedures, Tiak feels she has something more to offer now because of her own experience.

“I feel I can journey with them better than before, as I have been through a lot of what they have gone through,” she said.

“I tell them it’s OK to feel anxious. We are human beings. These are very common feelings,” she said. “But the good news is, you are in good hands. I don’t want to give them false hope, but at the same time, I want to encourage them by sharing what I have been through to identify their feelings.”

Moon agrees.

“Now she can really give a personal perspective,” he said. “Not that I recommend everybody in health care has heart surgery, but it definitely gives her a unique view.”