A routine trip to the doctor turned into a life-saving visit for one San Diego woman.
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Leslie Caoli, a 41-year-old strength-training athlete, looked to be in pristine health. After going to the doctor for a routine heart checkup, doctors determined that Leslie needed emergency open-heart surgery. She underwent an eight-hour procedure to repair a tear in her aorta. This is the main valve that connects to the heart.
Woman Becomes Amputee After Heart Checkup
While the news was alarming, Leslie's husband Lee Caoili is grateful that things turned out the way that they did. Because most people who suffer an aortic tear, don't come out on the other side of it. He said if they hadn't gone in for the checkup, his wife had "hours left to live."
"Most people who suffer an aortic dissection usually die pretty quickly, and they don't survive. So the surgery was necessary to save her life," Lee told ABC News. "She probably had maybe hours left to live, and we wouldn't even, we didn't even know."
Lee says that he is grateful that the surgery was a success. But he still understands that his life has a long road to recovery ahead of her. She still suffered permanent damage such as loss of blood flow to her arms and legs
"We didn't really know how her body was gonna respond to the initial surgery, but she ended up losing blood flow to her hands and her feet, and by the end of the first month there, her hands and her feet were blackened and shriveled," Lee added.
The loss of blood flow left doctors no choice but to make Leslie a quadruple amputee. Her arms and legs had to be cut off after they were deemed essentially useless.
Now Lee is focused on life after the procedure. Including fixing up his and Leslie's home for when she returns from the hospital.
The family is seeking "skilled volunteers," such as carpenters, electricians, HVAC technicians, roofers, flooring installers, and painters to help with the process.
