Not many people will volunteer to be the first person a surgeon does a new procedure on, but one Lehighton man decided it was better than the alternative.

Robert "Buzz" Hill, 80, was between the proverbial rock and a hard place.His blood thinner reduced the risk of a blood clot, but it also meant that he could have bleeding issues. Both ended up happening.On May 19, 2015, Hill suffered a stroke. A heart valve patient, he had developed endocarditis, which is an infection that inflames the inside lining of the heart. A piece of the infected material broke off and went to his brain.He was rushed to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest where he spent 11 days in the intensive care unit and had a fever that peaked at 107 degrees, his daughter, Wendy Thal, a nurse practitioner, said.After three weeks at LVH, he spent another three weeks in rehabilitation at Good Shepherd in Allentown. He experienced episodes of an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation, while he was in the hospital, but the doctors thought it was due to the illness.Then in late July, Hill found himself back in the hospital with another stroke.An interventional radiologist removed the clot, and Hill was spared brain damage. This trip to the hospital is when doctors discovered that the AFib had not gone away.Thal explained that when the heart doesn't pump the blood correctly, blood can pool in a small pocketlike appendage protruding from the left side of the heart. Everyone has this appendage, but its shape varies some from person to person, and as long as the heart is pumping correctly, then clots are not a concern.Since Hill had experienced two strokes already, doctors placed him on the blood-thinner Coumadin."Most people tolerate blood thinners," said Nainesh Patel, Hill's cardiologist at LVH.in mid-October just as Hill was preparing to go on an elk hunt, something he had wanted to do for 15 years, he suffered a cranial hemorrhage - bleeding on the brain."He was devastated thinking he wouldn't be able to go," said his wife, Carolyn Hill.The bleeding was brought under control, so he went on the hunt with his son.Still, he faced the possibility of bleeding on the brain again due to the blood thinner, but a 90 percent chance of having another stroke if he went off it."The doctor said he was an accident waiting to happen," Carolyn said.Also in 2015, the Watchman implant device was approved by the Federal Drug Administration on March 15, after 10 years of research and development.Patel went for training in August. And in February, Medicare approved covering the device and the procedure. About that time, Patel asked Hill if he'd like to consider the surgery.It would mean a life of no more blood thinners, no increased risk of stroke, and no bleeding on the brain.Hill agreed to it and went into surgery on March 29, the first person in the region to undergo the procedure.During a 75-minute procedure with 50 medical professionals watching, Patel, assisted by Dr. Babak Bozorgnia and Dr. Andrew Sumner, threaded a thin catheter wire holding a compressed Watchman device into Hill's heart through a vein in his leg.The porous, umbrella-shaped plug was positioned and opened at the mouth of the appendage.As far as drawbacks to the surgery, Patel said, "The risk is all upfront. It's with the procedure."Since Hill's procedure, Patel has been able to reduce the time it takes to 45 minutes, and expects it to drop to 30 minutes as he gets even better at it."The implant procedure went smoothly, and we're confident the long-term outlook for Mr. Hill is excellent," Patel said.Over the course of 45 days, skin cells will grow over the device and prevent blood from flowing in and out of the pocket-like appendage. Once this happens, Hill will be weaned off the Coumadin."There's superior reduction in hemorrhagic stroke with this device," Patel said. "The product isn't for everyone. It's for a select population, but it's a nice option for some.""They really took good care of me," Hill said. "I'm getting better as far as my strength."He goes to the gym three days a week."I'm gradually getting back to normal."