The change was like night and day

“You don’t know how bad you feel until it’s better,” says Tom Kelzer, pictured above with his wife.

The, now retired, IU Health athletic trainer and physical therapist first learned about his heart issues following a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AFib) after being admitted to IU Health Bloomington for pneumonia. With guidance from cardiologist Mohan Shenoy, MD, Kelzer was weaned off most of the cardiac medications and returned to his normal day-to-day.

Then, three weeks after his successful cervical fusion surgery in December 2023, his heart rate became unusually high. The resulting referral from the IU Health Bloomington Emergency department brought him under the care of a familiar face: clinical cardiac electrophysiologist Kyle Hornsby, MD.

“I got to know Dr. Hornsby as an undergraduate student in the IU Exercise Science Pre-Physical Therapy internship program,” says Kelzer. “He was an outstanding young man then and now a premier cardio physician. I am personally thankful he ended up as a cardiologist and was able to educate, treat and care for me.”

“I am so grateful for the opportunities in the past to learn from him and others who worked at what was formerly known as Rebound Physical Therapy in Bloomington,” says Hornsby. “It was a wonderfully unusual circumstance to care for someone who assisted on my journey into medicine, and I was so happy to be able to do this for him and his family.”

After several tests, Kelzer was diagnosed with AFib again and atrial flutter. They scheduled him for a cardio ablation surgery that day.

“The ablation surgery was seamless,” says Kelzer. “The entire process was outstanding from check-in to discharge.”

It was only after the surgery that he realized how bad he had been feeling beforehand.

Hornsby says, “While some patients can be asymptomatic, Tom’s case is not unusual for many patients with atrial fibrillation and/or atrial flutter.”

“I felt amazing,” says Kelzer. “Day and night comparison for before and after the ablation surgery.”

Kelzer is now back to normal activities and enjoying retirement (including hiking with his wife, as shown to the right), and he’s very thankful for the care he received to get him here.

“It is reassuring that we have the expertise for heart care right here in our Bloomington community,” says Kelzer. “I have been blessed to have Dr. Hornsby and his team in my life.”