Medicine: Dangerous Bottleneck

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Lorraine Delmonico's feet were always cold, but nobody bothered to find out why. Even when her first baby was born dead of poor blood supply it was put down to bad luck.

But last year, pregnant again, Lorraine went to Chicago's Presbyterian Hospital for a thorough check. The doctors found high blood pressure above her heart, low blood pressure below it. This, with a murmur heard over Lorraine's heart and other signs of abnormal circulation, indicated that she had suffered since birth from a coarctation (narrowing) of the aorta. The operation to correct this condition is drastic and dangerous; furthermore, there was no record of its having been done on a woman three months pregnant. But the doctors felt that the risk had to be taken.

The bottleneck section of the aorta was cut out and the ends were spliced together. Lorraine spent 33 days in the hospital. Last week, after another stay in the hospital, she went home with a healthy, 8-lb. daughter. Lorraine's heart is in fine shape. And her feet are warm. "No one who hasn't had cold feet all his life knows how wonderful it is," she said.